Govt to increase LPG production by this year

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The government is set to increase the production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by this year, the prime minister's energy adviser said, reports bdnews24.com. After a meeting on popularising LPG at the ministry on Thursday, adviser Tawfiq-E-Elahi said the production will be raised by 200,000 tonnes after the setting up of two new plants. The government will cut duties and taxes on import of LPG and cylinder to boost import and expansion of LPG use to alleviate the gas crisis. Currently the country consumes around 100,000 tonnes of LPG annually, mostly by the urban people in district towns and light engineering workshops. The declaration came two days after the government decided not to give fresh piped gas connections to households. State minister for energy Muhammad Enamul Huq said: "The government is currently supplying 20,000 tonnes of LPG, while 60,000 tonnes by private firms." He also said the meeting decided to set up two plants -- one in Chittagong and another in Mongla -- and produce 200,000 tonnes of LPG, available in cylinders. "A monitoring committee has also been formed to oversee the retail sale of a LPG cylinder at Tk 700, set by the government." A list of dealers and their contact numbers will also be made public, he added. of the involvement of certain individuals for the capital market scam. Mr Muhith turned down the allegation of taking any political decision by the incumbent government on concealment of the names of persons responsible for the share market manipulation. Responding to another question, the minister said there is no connection between share market scams of 1996 and 2011. He said he was yet to go through the probe report. The probe committee, headed by the Chairman, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, submitted its report to the finance minister Thursday morning. Replying to a query after submitting the report, Mr Khaled said that businessmen might have taken some illegal advantage of close relationship with people in power. The committee, formed on January 25, was given 3 months' time to prepare the report. It, however, finished the report about a month before the deadline. The report mentioned bad decisions by the regulator as being largely responsible for the market volatility. Citing the report, Mr Muhith said the report has suggested cancelling the direct listing method for companies except public institutions. The probe report is also of the view of keeping the face value of the remaining companies at Tk 10, he added. "The report suggested to bring reforms in the existing system of book building and reconstitution of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)," the minister told the reporters. He declined to make any comment relating to taking actions against the officials of SEC as the report has blamed the securities regulator for being largely responsible for and involved in share market manipulation. "I did not go through the report," was the comment of the minister on the particular question. Furthermore, the finance minister, referring to the committee report, said it has suggested abolishing the Omnibus Account Maintaining system being practised by Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) as manipulators could not be identified under the system.