In a speech critical of the prime minister’s energy advisor and state minister for power and energy, Md Tajul Islam, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, said the energy sector lacked good governance.
“Its like a reign of illegal gas connections. This should not be going on. As a watchdog, the parliamentary committee has taken the matter seriously to stop it,” Tajul said at a seminar on National Energy Security Day 2015 at Petrobangla Auditorium in the capital yesterday.
The Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid also spoke at the event organised by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division.
The division has observed August 9 as National Energy Security Day since 2010 to commemorate Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s decision to take over gas fields from foreign companies through purchase.
According to Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited officials, around 250km of illegal gas pipelines and 200,000 illegal connections have been detected in its franchise area, with most of the illegal pipelines in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Narsingdi and Gazipur.
These illegal connections consume 200 million cubic feet of gas per day, causing losses of several hundred crore taka to the government every day.
Titas Gas sources said an influential quarter of politicians from different parties, along with syndicates of Titas officials and contractors are involved in the business of setting up illegal distribution networks in Dhaka.
Tajul said the gas crisis had brought the country’s emerging industrial sector to a stall.
While in the past there were few entrepreneurs but plenty of gas, now there are many entrepreneurs but gas is scarce, Tajul said.
He said a lack of gas was a barrier to new entrepreneurs setting up their businesses.
Some 2,300 applications have been pending since July 2009 with the four state-run gas utility companies for new connections, load expansion and relocation of connections.
After a six year moratorium, the government has decided to allow new gas connections for industrial consumers.
An official of the Energy Division said, initially, 450 applicants would get gas connections to operate industrial boilers.
He said new gas connections to industry would require another 120 million cubic feet of gas a day.
“We have to make a collective effort to industrialise. If we do not, we will fail to progress. The government must put in place a pragmatic solution to the crisis for the sake of hitting the target of becoming a middle income country by 2021. We have to take rapid initiatives to provide new gas connections to industries,” Tajul said.
“We have been successful in increasing power production. But it must be admitted that it is not enough to meet the demands of a growing economy,” he added.
Responding to Tajul’s remarks, Tawfiq-e-Elahi said the government was aware of the concerns over the gas crisis and had taken initiatives to address the problem.