Gas crisis takes toll on industries at Savar

FE Team | Published: December 11, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Hit hard by gas crisis, industries in Savar industrial belt have been counting huge losses in two ways-additional spending on liquid fuel and paying the minimum mandatory charge to Titas 'without having the gas supply', reports UNB. According to industry insiders, this two-pronged loss has now emerged as the biggest threat to the export-oriented industries to continue their productions and maintain competitiveness. Among the industries, the worst affected ones are Rahimafrooz Batteries Limited, Masihata Garments, Mass Meat & Bone Industry, Anupam Garments, Mother Textile, Bengal Plastic, Romania Biscuits, Rahimafrooz Accumulators (solar battery), Dorin Garments & Washing, Aku Textile, RK Textile, Northern Fashion, Liberty Garments and King Barley. These industries require gas supply at a pressure level of 15 PSI (pound per square inch). But they hardly get the supply over 5-6 PSI which is too inadequate to continue production in a competitive manner, industry officials said. They said their industries have been experiencing low gas pressure since August in 2009. It turned acute in November 2009 and there is no sign of improvement so far. The chief operating officer of one such affected industry informed that his company is entitle to getting gas supply at 15 PSI for power generation and 12 PSI for factory operation. "But we hardly get 12 PSI except from midnight to 4am. During the rest of the day, the gas pressure remains almost zero," he said. "As a result, we had to install diesel-run generators beside the existing ones to run the factory. Similarly, to continue our battery production processes that need uninterrupted gas supply at the required pressure, we had to replace our gas-burn regulators at a huge additional cost. But finally this did not yield any positive result," a Rahimafrooz official said. He also said Rahimafrooz had to incur a loss of Tk 150 million annually to continue its production in two of units of the factories at Savar. Echoing the Rahimafrooz concern, another top official of a neighbouring industry said the gas shortage has put their businesses at stake. "Due to gas shortage, the companies are hit hard by additional fuel cost, additional capital investment and delivery uncertainty. All these push up the product cost in the local market and reduce the competitiveness in the export market," he added. He informed that the sufferings for this inadequate gas supply actually comes in many ways and may even lead to the closure of industries. "The most unfortunate thing is the industries have to pay the minimum gas bills every month virtually without consuming gas. In total, this gas crisis has raised the production cost by 5-6 per cent," he said. When contacted, Managing Director of Titas Gas Md Abdul Aziz Khan admitted about the severe gas crisis in Savar industrial belt. About the financial losses of the affected companies, he said there is a provision in Tatas that if any company pays minimum charge for three consecutive months, then Titas changes its connection pattern on the basis of its petition to avert the minimum charge. He said the reduced gas pressure situation at Savar is an old problem. The situation had improved a few months back after commissioning of a new gas pipeline by Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL), but the pressure dropped again.