Staggered holidays bring no improvement to gas supply
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Monira Munni
Gas supply in the garment and textile factories saw little or no improvement more than a week after the government declared separate weekly holidays in different industrial zones, manufacturers said Saturday.
The authorities last week staggered holidays in a desperate bid to improve energy supply to the industrial units after experts claimed that the move could save at least 40 million cubic feet of gas a day.
But manufacturers said the move hardly benefited the factories hit hard by energy crunch and also drew resentment from the workers who were made to make costly adjustments to their lives.
"The situation remained the same 11 days after the government staggered holidays for industrial zones," Fazlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), told the FE.
"We talked to scores of manufacturers and they said the holiday rationing system has hardly improved the overall gas supply situation. The gas crisis is getting worse with no signs of hopes," he said.
Hoque said the garment factories, which account for nearly 80 per cent of the country's exports last year, were at the receiving end of the government's skewed rationing policy.
The authorities should also ration gas for the power and fertiliser plants and CNG stations if they want to improve overall supply situation, he added.
Under the move introduced on January 27, Petrobangla divided Dhaka and its adjacent areas into seven zones and announced separate weekly holiday for each instead of the usual weekly holiday on Friday.
The country has more than 5,000 garment and textile plants, each relying on natural gas supply to operate boilers or generators. Petrobangla officials said the rationing system would benefit all the factories by saving gas and improving its pressure
A textile factory owner said there has also been little improvement to the gas pressure situation, leaving many plants with no power for hours.
"We have to wait hours for improvement of gas pressure. Sometimes the pressure is so low that it hampers work for six-eight hours," he said, adding that the workers were unduly affected by the holiday rationing programme.
"Suddenly, we have to tell the workers that you have to take holiday on Monday. They are now made to readjust their lives due to the gas crisis," he said.
President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Abdus Salam Murshedy said the garment factories should be "treated differently" in the gas rationing programme.
"Our economic growth largely depends on the performance of the garment sector. So we demand that the export-oriented garment sector be kept outside the purview of gas rationing programme," he said.
Mr Murshedy said the sector is on the recovery path after the worst global recession last year, but the energy crunch could forestall the revival. The government should not do anything that hampers our growth, he said.
The government had earlier stopped gas supply to three age-old fertiliser plants and also rationed supply to power units.
Currently gas shortage in and around the capital is about 150 mmcf daily.
Titas, the subsidiary of Petrobangla that distributes gas to the capital and its vicinity, can supply around 1,450 mmcfd of gas against the demand for 1,600 mmcfd.
The shortfall has hampered industrial and power production and dried up supply for CNG stations and cooking stoves.
Gas supply in the garment and textile factories saw little or no improvement more than a week after the government declared separate weekly holidays in different industrial zones, manufacturers said Saturday.
The authorities last week staggered holidays in a desperate bid to improve energy supply to the industrial units after experts claimed that the move could save at least 40 million cubic feet of gas a day.
But manufacturers said the move hardly benefited the factories hit hard by energy crunch and also drew resentment from the workers who were made to make costly adjustments to their lives.
"The situation remained the same 11 days after the government staggered holidays for industrial zones," Fazlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), told the FE.
"We talked to scores of manufacturers and they said the holiday rationing system has hardly improved the overall gas supply situation. The gas crisis is getting worse with no signs of hopes," he said.
Hoque said the garment factories, which account for nearly 80 per cent of the country's exports last year, were at the receiving end of the government's skewed rationing policy.
The authorities should also ration gas for the power and fertiliser plants and CNG stations if they want to improve overall supply situation, he added.
Under the move introduced on January 27, Petrobangla divided Dhaka and its adjacent areas into seven zones and announced separate weekly holiday for each instead of the usual weekly holiday on Friday.
The country has more than 5,000 garment and textile plants, each relying on natural gas supply to operate boilers or generators. Petrobangla officials said the rationing system would benefit all the factories by saving gas and improving its pressure
A textile factory owner said there has also been little improvement to the gas pressure situation, leaving many plants with no power for hours.
"We have to wait hours for improvement of gas pressure. Sometimes the pressure is so low that it hampers work for six-eight hours," he said, adding that the workers were unduly affected by the holiday rationing programme.
"Suddenly, we have to tell the workers that you have to take holiday on Monday. They are now made to readjust their lives due to the gas crisis," he said.
President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Abdus Salam Murshedy said the garment factories should be "treated differently" in the gas rationing programme.
"Our economic growth largely depends on the performance of the garment sector. So we demand that the export-oriented garment sector be kept outside the purview of gas rationing programme," he said.
Mr Murshedy said the sector is on the recovery path after the worst global recession last year, but the energy crunch could forestall the revival. The government should not do anything that hampers our growth, he said.
The government had earlier stopped gas supply to three age-old fertiliser plants and also rationed supply to power units.
Currently gas shortage in and around the capital is about 150 mmcf daily.
Titas, the subsidiary of Petrobangla that distributes gas to the capital and its vicinity, can supply around 1,450 mmcfd of gas against the demand for 1,600 mmcfd.
The shortfall has hampered industrial and power production and dried up supply for CNG stations and cooking stoves.