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Steel mill in Bogra can't start production due to lack of gas connection

Crisis casts shadow on industrialisation

Hasibur Rahman Bilu, Bogra
Uncertainty has descended on a steel mill in Bogra district as the authorities have decided that no new gas connection will be offered in the country's northern region until December due to shortages.
Pragoti Steel Mill Ltd in Bogra Bangladeh Small & Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) industrial area now only needs gas connection to go for production. But the mill has been lying idle for two months due to absence of gas connection.
“There is no scope to provide new industrial and commercial gas connections in Bogra right now because of gas shortage”, said Saiful Islam Chowdhury, managing director of Paschimanchal Gas Company Ltd (PGCL), which is responsible for gas supply in the region.
“It is not possible to give any new connection right now in the district," he added.
Owner of Pragoti Steel Mill Sultan Mahamud Chowdhary said the mill has been built at a cost of more than Tk 3 crore to produce 50 metric tons of MS rod a day.
I have not received any assurance about the gas connection from the authorities concerned," said Chowdhary.
The government's decision to suspend gas supply in the region has cast a shadow over the industrial projects in Bogra.
At least 14 industrial projects including two paper mills in Bogra district have been suspended due to the acute gas crisis.
Professor HosneAra Begum, executive director of the NGO Thengamara Mohila Shabuj Shangha (TMSS), said her organisation has suspended a Tk 24 core paper mill project due to the gas crisis.
Bogra Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCC) President, Fazlur Rahman Paiker said he has to abandon his proposed paper mill project ofTk 30 crore since he does not get any assurance from the authorities about the supply of gas.
A senior official of PGCLalso said 10 proposed CNG filling station projects of Tk 30 crore have been suspended due to the short supply of gas.
Earlier reports said the PGCL received a letter from Petrobangla on May 26 regarding the suspension of new gas supply following a recent meeting in Dhaka.
Talking to The Daily Star, PGCL officials said the Petrobangla letter has instructed them to inform the applicants that new connections cannot be approved now, due to a shortage of gas.
When contacted over telephone last week, Jalal Ahmed, chairman of Petrobangla, admitted the gas shortage, but declined to comment on issuing the order to stop gas connection.
The PGCL officials said they are receiving only 82 million cubic feet per day (mcfpd) against the demand for 97 mcfpd gas for three power stations, 10 CNG filling stations, 38,385 residential and several other commercial connections.
"We were informed in February that it was not possible to provide us with more than 81 mcfpd gas," said a PGCLofficiaL
At present, the process to offer more than 3,000 residential connections has been stalled due to supply dearth and lack of spare parts, PGCL officials in Bogra said.