The government has taken an initiative to import furnace oil (diesel) from India through pipeline, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid said in Parliament on Wednesday. Replying to a star-marked question from Awami League lawmaker Didarul Alam (Chittagong-4), the minister said the terms of reference for a detailed feasibility study have already been approved by both sides.
‘It will be possible to implement the project by June 2017,’ the minister said.
Replying to another question from Awami League lawmaker Nurunnabi Chowdhury (Bhola-3), the minister said the government has taken a step to import 13 lakh metric tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia in 2014 to meet the domestic demand for furnace oil.
Bangladesh will have to spend Tk 9,768 crore for the import, he said in his written answer.
Nasrul Namid said there are now 587 CNG filling stations across the country. Of them, only 26 stations are situated in the western part of the country, he said, replying to another question from Jatiya Party MP AKM Maidul Islam (Kurigram-3).
The minister told the House that about 11.92 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas have been extracted from different gas fields of the country in the current fiscal year till March while the current reserve of gas is 15.12 trillion cubic feet.
Answering another question, the minister said that system loss in the power sector has come down to 13.83 per cent from 16.85 per cent in the last five years due to various steps taken by the government.
He said the grand alliance government has raised the country’s power production capacity to 10,351 MWs from 4,942 MWs.
The minister said the government enhanced the power generation capacity by 4,915 megawatts from 2009 to May 2014 through 63 power plants.
Replying to another question from Awami League member Abdul Latif, the minister said the government has taken steps to set up four coal-based power plants of 5,000 megawatts in Moheshkahli. The projects will be implemented by 2021, he said.
The minister informed the House that the government has a plan to import coal.
-With New Age input
