Owners of readymade garment factories on Sunday threatened that they would shut down 245 factories in Gazipur if the authorities concerned would not ensure adequate gas supply to the factories. Md Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, conveyed the owners’ stand at a meeting with the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid.
Energy division secretary Md Eunusur Rahman, power division secretary Monwar Islam, Petrobangla chairman Hossain Monsur and other power and energy sector officials attended the meeting.
Atiqul said that production in the 245 factories had been interrupted for 15 to 16 hours a day due to low pressure of the supplied gas.
The interruption in production has already made many upcoming shipments of the readymade garments uncertain in due time, he said.
Atiqul also said that the government would have to take the responsibility of paying the dues to the workers and officials of the affected apparel factories before Eid-ul-Azha.
Supply of natural gas to households, industries and power stations dropped significantly over the last couple of weeks as Petrobangla began supplying gas to fertiliser factories after a six-month break.
Three new gas-fired power plants have also started drawing gas, creating further pressure on the gas supply network.
Except Sylhet and its adjacent districts, kitchen stoves burned on low flames and turbines at 1,053MW capacity power plants stopped rotating while industrial production was hampered due to the shortage of gas.
At the meeting, Nasrul assured the factory owners that the government would make a way out to increase gas supply to the factories.
He asked Petrobangla to settle the matter in consultation with the Gas Transmission Company of Bangladesh, a subsidiary of Petrobangla, as soon as possible.
Petrobangla, the state-run Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Corporation, will sit with GTCL today to work out how to increase the pressure of supplied gas to the factories, officials said.
The authorities started supplying about 160 mmcfd gas, after a six-month moratorium, and will increase it to about 250 mmcfd, to help meet the annual fertiliser production target set by the government, officials said.
Petrobangla now supplies about 2,350 million cubic feet of natural gas a day, against a demand for over 3,000 mmcfd.
The shortage of gas supply triggered a row among the state-run agencies in power and energy sector over setting priorities in gas supply.
-With New Age input
