Planning Commission gives nod to Tk 10.25b gas pipeline project

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FHM Humayan Kabir The Planning Commission (PC) has given its consent to a 90-kilometre-long gas pipeline project aimed at supplying Liquefied Natural gas (LNG) from the proposed terminal at southern Maheshkhali to the national grid, officials said Saturday. "The project evaluation committee of the Commission has already reviewed the Anwara-Maheshkhali pipeline project and recommended it to the Executive Committee (EC) of the National Economic Council (NEC), the highest economic policy-making body of the government for approval," a senior Commission official said. The state-owned Gas Transmission Company Ltd. (GTCL) has sought approval of Tk 10.25 billion project to install the pipeline, which will have a capacity for transmission of 500-million cubic feet of gas (mcf) per day. "We have sent a proposal to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approving this important scheme," the Commission official said. "Under the project, the pipeline will be installed for supply of LNG to the national grid from the proposed LNG terminal at Maheshkhali," Managing Director of the GTCL Aminur Rahman told the FE. He said the proposed 90-kilometre pipeline with 30-inch diameter will be set up from Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar to Anwara in Chittagong at a total cost of Tk 10.25 billion. The gas pipeline will give a big boost to the Bangladesh's first-ever LNG project as the government wants to complete the installation of the terminal in the Maheshkhali island in the Bay of Bengal by 2012. A US firm, CH-IV International has already been appointed to provide consultancy support to the state-owned, Petrobangla which floated tender for selecting pre-qualified bidders for building the LNG floating terminal. The government received 10 bids from international companies for setting up the floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRU) at Maheshkhali. Meanwhile, Dhaka has already signed a preliminary accord to import 4.0 million tonnes of LNG per year from Qatar, the world's largest LNG exporter, with the hope of receiving the first supplies from next year. The floating offshore terminal will convert the imported LNG, a super-cooled gas, to natural gas for supplying through the transmission line across the country. An Energy Division official said the proposed floating unit will have a re-gasification capacity of at least 500-mcf a day. The gas will be used to fuel dozens of planned power plants, to be built over the next decade, as well as the existing ones that have been forced to shut, or operate at lower capacity, due to shortages of natural gas, he said.