New customers cannot be given gas connections unless domestic gas production rises and adequate supply is ensured, Shahnewaz Parvez, managing director of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution PLC, has said. More than 500 customers are currently waiting after paying against demand notes, but cannot be connected because of the supply shortage, he said.
Shahnewaz Parvez was speaking on Wednesday at a policy conclave on “Bangladesh’s energy security and transition” in the Grand Ballroom of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in the capital, organised by Bonik Barta.
The Titas MD said about 60 percent of the country’s total gas distribution goes through Titas, which serves about 4,500 industrial establishments and also supplies gas to power plants and fertiliser factories. Titas produces no gas itself and depends entirely on allocations from Petrobangla, which distributes whatever gas is available from domestic fields and imported LNG among six distribution companies.
He said about 2,200 million cubic feet a day (mmcfd) of gas is needed to run industries normally in the 12 to 13 districts under Titas. The situation could be kept broadly normal with at least 1,700 mmcfd, but they are currently receiving only 1,500 to 1,550 mmcfd.
Shahnewaz Parvez said the recent shutdown of an LNG terminal had put further pressure on gas supply, with the crisis particularly acute in the Gazipur industrial belt. Complaints of not getting gas come in from industries every day, and complaints from residential customers also have to be dealt with regularly.
On new gas connections, he said Titas currently holds about 1,300 applications, of which more than 500 customers have paid against demand notes and are waiting for connections. They cannot be connected because there is not enough gas.
“Until domestic gas production increases or adequate gas supply is ensured, we will not be able to give gas connections to new customers,” the managing director said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report