Shah Alam Nur :
Like the households and other commercial segments in capital Dhaka and its outskirts, textile industries located in the country’s key industrial belts are also facing an acute gas crisis for the last one-month affecting their production significantly, industry insiders said.
They said, ongoing gas crisis has forced most textile units to curtail their production drastically causing huge losses to the industrial entrepreneurs. So, production is now far below their capacity, they added.
“Textile units located in major industrial belts facing an acute gas crisis have shed production by 20 to 25 per cent,” Tapan Chowdhury, President of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) told The New Nation on Tuesday.
He said, “The ongoing gas crisis has badly affected production of small and medium scale factories as they are not in a position to run captive power plants to run their production. However, large textile units are now depending heavily on captive power generation for production which in turn is increasing their production cost.”
Tapan Chowdhury, Managing Director of Square Textiles Ltd, said gas crisis has hit industrial belts in Narayanganj, Savar, Tongi and Gazipur.
Expressing frustration over the country’s prevailing energy situation, Tapan Chowdhury said, entrepreneurs have set up industries taking bank loans. Many of them have already become loan defaulters as they suffer loss due to low factory production resulted from power and gas crisis.
To fight energy crisis, the BTMA leader requested the government to ensure uninterrupted power and gas supply to industrial units for protection of their investment as well as the country’s industrial development.
When asked, Tapan Chowdhury said, a good number of textile units are now sitting idle due to lack of gas and electricity connection. If they fail to get such privilege, the national economy will suffer potential setback.
“We have already conveyed our pain to Energy Adviser Dr Tawfiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury. On top of this we also requested him to provide fresh gas and electricity connection to the textile industries,” he added.
The BTMA leader said if the industrial units are not provided new gas and electricity connections, no new investment will come in this sector. It will also severely affect the country’s economic activities and job creation, he said.
Jahangir Alamin, former president of BTMA said many entrepreneurs are running their industrial units with captive power, leading to an increase in the manufacturing cost by about 20 per cent.
He said, the textile units, mostly bulk gas users, recorded a slow growth due to energy shortage.
“Production in the textile industries has also fallen drastically due to power and gas crunch”, he said.
He said many textile units remained idle over the last five years due to the gas crisis and presently some of them are getting power supplies from diesel run power generators.
Mizanur Rahman, Managing Director of Ratanpur Spinners Ltd, said no new investment and expansion of the existing plants took place over the last four years.
He said textile millers are resorting to energy efficient devices through co-generation process and other means to get maximum output from use of gas.
AK Azad, Managing Director of Hameem Group, said diesel is not cost-effective alternative for captive power generators.
“We want guarantee that after two years, gas supply will be increased,” he said and pointed out that in reality, the government will not be able to keep its promises within the timeframe.
The industrial sector also wants a roadmap as well as an assurance regarding energy supply, he said.
According to Petrobangla (Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation), the country produces around 2,313 million cubic feet (CF) of gas per day against the demand for around 3,000 million cubic feet.
