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New transmission line may not bring gas to users soon

A lack of distribution network to blame
State-run Gas Transmission Company Limited has almost completed the setting up of a city gate station in Saidpur of Nilphamari as part of the 150-kilometre Bogura-Rangpur-Saidpur transmission line project. Some 90 per cent of the Tk 1,359-crore project has already been implemented. Once distribution lines are set up, the transmission network would help supply gas to industries and power plants.
EAM ASADUZZAMAN, Nilphamari
Establishing a gas transmission line in the country’s northern districts has almost been completed, but people and industries in the region will not benefit from the progress immediately because of a lack of a distribution network.
According to officials of Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL), 90 per cent of work of the 150-kilometre Bogura-Rangpur-Saidpur transmission line project has been completed at a cost of Tk 1,359 crore.
The project, whose implementation kicked off in 2018, was revised twice and the new deadline is June 2023.
But entrepreneurs in the greater Rangpur division have expressed disappointment since they are unlikely to get gas due to an absence of distribution lines even if the project completes in line with the new deadline.
“It’s upsetting that the construction of the gas distribution line network has not started though it was scheduled to finish by 2023. The delay may hamper the prime minister’s plan to bring about equal development across the country,” said Mostofa Sohrab Chowdhury Titu, president of the Rangpur Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
Paschimanchal Gas Company Limited (PGCL) is yet to start the construction of distribution pipelines needed to supply gas to consumers under a Tk 258-crore project, which was approved in the middle of 2021.
Both GTCL and PGCL are subsidiaries of Petrobangla: the former lays the main gas transmission pipeline while the later installs the distribution network and brings gas to the doorsteps of users.
Some industrialists have begun working to set up factories in 11 northern districts as the hope of accessing gas received a boost after the beginning of the transmission network. Sanita Ceramics is one of them.
Mozahedul Islam Farooque, owner of the company, said, “We are running a ceramic factory by using costly electricity. We had expected to get the gas connection soon after the transmission line project was initiated.”
“And we had thought that the production cost would be reduced after getting gas. Now, our survival is under threat.”
Fazlul Karim, the project director of the gas distribution project in Rangpur, Nilphamari, Pirganj and adjoining areas, said they are yet to get any contractor.
“A few months earlier, we floated a tender to select a construction firm. But we have failed to get one owing to the global uncertainty. We are now preparing to issue the second tender.”
He said a 44km distribution line is scheduled to be built in the Rangpur city and adjoining areas, while a 10km distribution network in Pirganj and a 46km line in Nilphamari and in the Uttara Export Processing Zone are supposed to be constructed.
Currently, PGCL can supply 176 million cubic feet of gas a day in Bogura, Pabna, Sirajganj and Rajshahi against the daily demand of 273mmcfd due to poor flow of gas, sources at the state-run company said.
Shafiqul Alam Dablu Shah, president of the Nilphamari Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said, “The gas supply situation in the region may not be smooth even after the supply lines are built. The flow of gas might be a factor here.”
Nazmul Islam, a deputy general manager of GTCL, says the state-run company now channels 2,900 mmcfd of gas every day against the demand of 3,600 mmcfd to 3,800 mmcfd.
The Bogura-Rangpur-Saidpur gas transmission pipeline is the prime minister’s priority project and it will go into operation soon, according to Md Hafizur Rahman Chowdhury, a joint secretary of the power, energy and mineral resources ministry.
Once distribution lines are set up, the pipeline would help supply gas to 102 heavy industries in Rangpur, 24 in the Uttara EPZ in Nilphamari, and two under-construction power plants in Rangpur and Nilphamari.

Small US banks see record drop in deposits after SVB collapse
REUTERS
Deposits at small US banks dropped by a record amount following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10, data released on Friday by the Federal Reserve showed.
Deposits at small banks fell $119 billion to $5.46 trillion in the week ended March 15. That was more than twice the previous record drop and the biggest decline as a percent of overall deposits since the week ended March 16, 2007.
Borrowings at small banks, defined as all but the biggest 25 commercial US banks, increased by $253 billion to a record $669.6 billion, the Fed’s weekly data showed.
“As a result, small banks had $97 billion more in cash on hand at the end of the week, suggesting that some of the borrowing was to build war chests as a precautionary measure in case depositors asked to redeem their money,” Capital Economics’ analyst Paul Ashworth wrote.
SVB collapsed after it was unable to meet a swift and massive run by depositors who took out tens of billions of dollars in a matter of hours.
Deposits at large US banks rose $67 billion in the week to $10.74 trillion, the Fed data showed.
Overall US bank deposits have been in decline after sharply rising in the wake of pandemic aid in 2020 and early 2021.
The reversal in the trend for large banks was notable. The rise equates to about half as much as the deposit decline at small banks, suggesting that some of the cash may have gone into money market funds or other instruments.
Large banks also increased borrowings in the week, by $251 billion.
It was unclear if the shift in deposits out of small banks will persist.
“Deposit flows in the banking system have stabilized over the last week,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday.
According to officials of Gas Transmission Company Limited, 90 per cent of work of the 150-kilometre Bogura-Rangpur-Saidpur transmission line project has been completed at a cost of Tk 1,359 crore