Staff Reporter
Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Saturday said, no new gas connection will be given for household consumption as its use for cooking purpose is nothing but waste of energy.
Addressing, a seminar held at Petrobangla, he said, some people are still demanding gas for household consumption. “We will have to make them understand that this is not for cooking as there are many alternative fuels for it.”
Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid, Petrobangla Chairman Ishtiak Ahmed, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) Chairman Mahmud Reza Khan and DG of Geological Survey of Bangladesh Nehal Uddin, among others, spoke at the seminar held with Energy Secretary Nazimuddin Chowdhury in the chair.
The government has stopped giving permission to new gas connections, particularly to households, for the last six years amid dwindling of gas reserves. But demands for getting new gas connections are growing in various parts of the country.
“But the movement will not yield any result,” said Muhith. “Our first priority will be cancelling the use of gas for household purposes. We have to convince the people that it is a waste.”
Mentioning Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as an alternative fuel for household use, the Finance Minister said, the government has made the import of cylinder gas easier by reducing its duty in the current budget.
“But some private operators took advantage of it and some of them were doing monopoly business with LPG. If this continues, I will withdraw total duties on LPG in the next budget,” he told the seminar.
“About 80 percent of power is gas generated. Whenever gas was found, it was supplied for domestic consumption. Now, we see, the remaining reserve is very inadequate. This is a very costly resource. Cooking with this resource is a great waste,” said Muhith.
Nasrul Hamid said the government’s future challenge for the energy sector is to find efficient manpower to run the sector as the government is planning to invest $8 billion.
He also announced the government’s plan to take the power plants’ share to local and international stock markets to issue bond to collect fund for investment.
The Energy Division organised the seminar marking the National Energy Security Day to commemorate the decision of the Father of the Nation to take over five gas fields from Shell Oil Company in 1975.
