State minister for power and energy Nasrul Hamid on Sunday urged businesses to bring down prices of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the local market to help boost its consumption.
Mr Hamid made the urging at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day South Asia LPG Summit 2019 at International Convention City, Bashundhara.
He said currently some 22 private firms and their joint ventures are operating LPG business in the country, although 60 such companies were given bottling and import permission.
These businesses supply around 775,000 tonnes of LPG across the country annually.
Mr Hamid also laid stress on strengthening the operations of state-run producer and distributor of LP Gas to break the dominance of the private sector.
He urged the stakeholders to build awareness among consumers so that incidents of accidents decline.
There should be an integrated effort to build such awareness among consumers, he said.
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation chairman Md Shamsur Rahman, president of the LPG Owners Association of Bangladesh (LOAB) Azam J Chowdhury, director general of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense Brigadier General Ali Ahmed Khan, deputy managing director of World LPG Association (WLPGA) Michael Kelly also spoke on the occasion.
Some 80 LPG firms and their joint ventures from home and abroad are taking part in the summit.
Azizjst@yahoo.com