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Govt starts massive gas distribution projects in N region

Gas availability still uncertain

Hasibur Rahman Bilu, Bogra
The government has started implementing four gas distribution projects worth Tk 1,600 crore in the country's north and southwest even though availability of gas for the region is still uncertain, said senior officials at Petrobangla and the project directors.
The energy and mineral
resources ministry has already started working on three of the projects at a cost of Tk 903.22 crore and it will soon start the work of the fourth project named Southwest Gas Supply Project in Khulna with a Tk 700 crore price tag.
Jalal Ahmed, chairman of Petrobangla, told The Daily Star over cell phone that gas crisis might
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turn for the worse by 2010. As such, the ongoing projects in the north and the southwest would be of no use unless the production of gas is increased, he added.
Out of the expected production increase of 65 mmefd (million cubic feet per day) gas by this December, 20 mmefd would be reserved for Chittagong, he said adding that the present demand of Pashchimancal Gas Company Ltd (PGCL) that serves Bogra, Pabna and Sirajganj could not even be met with the remaining 45 mmefd gas, let alone meeting the demands of the entire north.
According to Petrobangla officials, the present demand for gas cannot be met before 2011 and the rising demands will make it even more difficult for the government to supply gas for the ongoing projects.
Demand for gas in March last year was 15 lakh mmefd and in the same month this year, the demand rose to 18 lakh mmefd, said the Petrobangla chief.
Even if the demand increases by 1.5 lakh mmefd a year, there is no possibility of meeting the demand and therefore the new projects are likely to remain unutilised, said the officials at Petrobangla.
Considering this scenario, gas supply in Rajshahi city will not be possible in June next year when the installation of 280 kilometres pipeline is set to be completed under the Tk 112 crore Rajshahi City Gas Distribution Project, the Petrobangla chairman said.
Same fate awaits two other projects -- the Tk 628.70-crore Jamuna-Bheramara Project and the Tk 161.52-crore Hatikumrul-Banpara-Rajshahi Project, he said.