Shortage of natural gas

Advisor to our government, it seems the crisis cannot be resolved before 2007.

The year 2007 is far away and in this transit period what can we do in our backward linkage industries? This remains unanswered. The media should probe the matter.

We are one the pioneers in setting up of backward linkage industries at Zarun, 2km east of Konabari BISIC industrial area. The principle benefits of linkage industries are value addition of more than 50% compared to the normal 25 % value addition in the garment sector. Buyers are more interested in composite units for reduced lead-time in carrying out export orders. We now export at 30 days lead-time, as all production equipment are under one umbrella, be it knit or woven garments. With the recent quota dispute of EU with China, more buyers are enlarging their business volumes in Bangladesh and this is the peak time to create strong foundations in EC markets and prove that Bangladesh is not affected in the post MFA period.

Natural gas is the primary energy source to generate power, steam and compressed air to run machines and motors. We need to stress that REB power source is very unreliable with more than six hours load shedding every day and low voltage.

So, we buy natural gas from Titas Gas and pay gas bills of Tk 33 lakh per month. The designed pressure target at Gazipur is 150 psig or more but during these days the pressure drops to 60 psig or even less which is a serious problem for us.

Thanks to you and the Energy Adviser for highlighting the crisis that we are passing through.