Tender soon for gas link to southwest districts

Tenders will soon be called to set up gas link with five southwestern districts of Bangladesh, SM Rezaul Islam, director of the project to establish links, said, reports bdnews24.com. Once the lines are up, residents of Khulna district will get natural gas supply for domestic and industrial use for the first time, though it is still uncertain whether gas will be supplied to households. Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Bangladesh government are jointly funding the project to set up a 20-inch wide pipeline stretching 845 kilometres. The project also includes setting up 10 regulatory monitoring stations: four in Khulna, two each in Jessore and Kushtia, and one each in Jhenaidah and Bagerhat. Sundarban Gas Distribution Company, an associate organisation of the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (BAPEX), is implementing the project. The company was formed on Nov 23, 2009. "Construction of the distribution links will help people of the southwestern region," BAPEX Chief Hossain Mansur said. "We will not, however, supply to households due to gas shortage-factories and industries will get the connections." There is a daily shortage of 0.5 billion cubic feet (CFT) gas against the country's present daily demand of 2.5 billion CFT. The project undertaken by the Sundarban Gas Distribution Company aims at setting up supply to 21 southwestern districts in line with the government's aim. Supply will initially be given at Kushtia, Jhenaidah, Jessore, Khulna and Bagerhat districts, Islam said. He also expressed the hope that the distribution network would be set up by the end of next year. Meanwhile, work has already started on building a transmission line to feed the distribution network, state-run Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL) Managing Director Aminur Rahman said. The project for construction of Bheramara-Khulna 20-inch gas transmission pipeline includes setting up 163 kilometres of transmission lines and four metering stations. On Oct 21, GTCL struck deals with six contractors to set up the transmission line in the Tk 6.85-billion project. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had approved the Tk 5.3-billion gas distribution project on Dec 22, 2009. Of the total project cost, ADB will bear Tk 2.8 billion.