Tax holiday facility on LPG demanded for businesses

Bangladesh LPG Autogas Station & Conversion Workshop Owners Association demanded tax holiday facility for 10 years to help keep businesses alive and flourishing in this sector.

They also demanded withdrawal of currently imposed 7.5 per cent value added tax (VAT) on autogas at consumer level to ensure growing consumption of this clean fuel.

The association president Mohammad Serajul Mawla placed these demands during a pre-budget meeting with National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan at the NBR office of Agargaon in the city.

The businessmen also demanded tax-free import facility of raw materials required for installing autogas station and conversion workshops, which they said could save huge import costs of finished products.

Association's general secretary Md Hasin Parvez along with its executive and senior members took part in the pre-budget meeting.

Currently, Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) fixes the LPG prices for private operators within the first week of every month.

Some 27 LPG operators are doing business although some 58 received licence to carry out the business.

Some 20 operators import around 1.10 million tonnes of LPG from international market, which is around 98 per cent of the country's total requirement of LPG, while seven are satellite operators.

There are some 20 LPG terminals across the country with a reserve capacity around 100,000 tonnes in total. Some 35 million LPG cylinders are being used in the LPG business.

Azizjst@yahoo.com