The state-owned gas company, Titas Gas, is proposing to pipe Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to houses that are off the natural gas grid, in a bid to deal with the shortage of natural gas.
The aim of the project is to distribute cooking gas at an affordable price.
“We have prepared a proposal to distribute piped gas to new areas under a pilot project based on LPG,” the general manager of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, Mir Moshiur Rahman, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Piped LPG can offer a substitute to the natural gas grid, which will eventually become defunct. LPG imported from abroad will ensure the flow of gas. Local LPG will be used in the pilot project.
“We have chosen locations like Savar and Narayanganj and conducted consumer surveys to determine whether there is interest in getting LPG,” Moshiur said.
“We will send the proposal to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division through Petrobangla. If the proposal is approved we will start the project work. We will go for a bigger project if it is successful,” he added.
On March 6, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu said he favoured scrapping the supply of gas by pipelines for use in vehicles and for cooking purposes. The minister added that a proposal in this regard had been sent to the prime minister.
“The reserve is being depleted because gas is being wasted. The waste can be cut by supplying gas in cylinders for household purposes like in other countries,” Amu said.
Petrobangla sources said currently more than 2,300 million cubic feet of gas was supplied every day against a daily demand of 2,700-3,000 million cubic feet.
LPG is now sold in cylinders in the country at a cost of Tk1,600-1,800 per 12kg cylinder.
“Initially, we will supply gas to 2,000 household consumers. Local LPG will be used in the project,” Petrobangla Director Jameel Ahmed Aleem said.
“In the new initiative, government will set up stations where LPG will be stored and supplied to consumers in the same way that Titas serves its clients. The LPG circulation system however, will not have any link with the national gas grid,” he said.
“A few years back a project was undertaken at the Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company Limited (KAFCO) housing colony in Chittagong as the gas connection was off. That project was successful. The project was eventually wound down because the government began to supply gas from the national grid using the same pipeline,” Deputy General Manager of KAFCO, Mohammad Kamal Uddin told the Dhaka Tribune.
“This is a good initiative. In can also be done in big apartments or small areas where more than 100 families live. This system is commercially viable as it will cost less than cylinder LPG gas,” he said.
A High Court ban on providing new gas connections was lifted after three years in May 2013. Then officials of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division said at a press briefing that gas connection will be given only where gas lines currently exist Consumers Association of Bangladesh Energy Adviser Prof Dr M Shamsul Alam said the project should be done efficiently and transparently.