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CNG crisis to drag on as supply plan hits snags

SHARIER KHAN
A quick solution to the CNG crisis facing vehicles in the city is not possible, as a major project to lay pipelines for gas supply has hit snags.
The Clean Fuel Project (CFP), designed to speed up conversion to gas, has fallen behind schedule.
The delay is likely to hold up disbursement of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funds for the project.
This in turn will delay installation of new public sector CNG refuelling stations and new gas pipeline network around the city.
Besides, Petrobangla experts forecast a gas supply shortfall in the capital this summer that would severely affect existing gas refuelling facilities.
Due to a projected sharp demand rise in power plants this summer, the gas supply and its pressure would fall significantly, they said.
CNG-run vehicles are already facing acute gas crisis with only 11 filling stations in the city. Some 3,000 autorickshaws have recently been added to the city's CNG-run fleet because of the ban on two-stroke three-wheelers.
Long queues of three wheelers
at these stations are everyday scene. According to the CNG drivers, refuelling could take between two to ten minutes at different stations depending on gas pressure.
"The existing gas pipeline network does not allow any unified pressure in the city," said a Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) source. "Nor does it allow further expansion of CNG refuelling facilities. In fact, the existing ones are facing severe difficulties. A 15-minute refuelling job took about an hour when the cold wave was severe (which affected gas flow)."
But even in such a situation, the government is going slow on the
Clean Fuel Project.
The ADB conditions say three affiliates of Petrobangla -- Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd. (TGTDCL), Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd. (RPGCL) and Gas Transmission Company Ltd. (GTCL) -- should be made fully autonomous.
The government was supposed to approve the project concept papers (PCPs) submitted by these three companies by December 31. But the PCPs remain stuck with the
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planning commission due some minor reasons.
The government was also to appoint chief executives to the three companies by advertising in newspapers by mid-January as a step to corporatise entities. This also remains undone, sources said.
The GTCL was supposed to take over three pipelines -- Ashuganj-Elenga, Bakhrabad-Demra and Bakhrabad-Chittagong -- from other gas companies of the country. But the task remains unfinished.
The boards of the three companies are supposed to be reconstituted, putting in at least three professionals from outside, by February 12. No initiative has been taken to do it, sources said.
The government is also to increase CNG price. However, a new price is yet to be worked out.
"Basically some government high-ups are not enthusiastic about giving autonomy to Titas. A section of unscrupulous meter readers and officials steals huge revenue and enjoys blessings from the top," said an official working in the Clean Fuel Project.
"All these moves were initiated back in September-October. But we made very little progress since then," he added.
The $113.4 million project aims at setting up a robust CNG distribution network in Dhaka and its out-
skirts.
Under the project, the GTCL will set up a 60-km 20-inch pipeline from Dhanua to Amin Bazar.
Titas will set up 97-km a 16-inch pipeline from Dhaka to Savar with 150 pressure per square inch and establish 100 CNG stations.
The RPGCL will set up three major CNG stations on the outskirts of Dhaka and another three by the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. It will also build 20 CNG stations in the capital.
In addition, the RPGCL will import 300 CNG buses. Of them, 100 will be leased out to the staterun Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), and the remaining 200 to private operators.
Besides, the RPGCL will import 10,000 CNG car conversion kits and set up a repair workshop, among other things.