2.6 lakh to get prepaid gas meters next year

Some 2.6 lakh residential consumers in Dhaka and Chittagong cities are going to get prepaid gas meters from next year under a Japan-funded project.

According to sources at Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, responsible for installation of 200,000 gas meters in Dhaka North City Corporation area, a Japanese contractor is now making pre-shipment inspections of the imported prepaid meters, which will reach the country this month.

Manager of Titas prepaid meter installation project Sazzad Hossain informed that they have been conducting a consumer survey in the selected areas before starting the installation work.

"Once the meters reach the country, both the survey and installation works will simultaneously go on and the job will be concluded within the next two years," he told the news agency.

The government took the project a few years back as part of a move to check the pilferage in gas supply.

Earlier, under a pilot project, Titas installed 8,600 prepaid meters in Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur and Lalmatia areas in the capital. Now 200,000 prepaid meters will be installed in Banani, Baridhara, Bashundhara, Badda, Khilkhet, Uttara, and Mirpur areas spending Tk 722 crore. Karnaphuli gas will set up prepaid meters for 60,000 consumers in Chittagong city at Tk 248.40 crore.

The total cost of implementing the projects is Tk 970.50 crore. Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) will finance Tk 607.18 crore, while the rest will come from the government.

Officials at Titas said they will set up 50 point of sales (POS) centres in Dhaka city to facilitate its consumers to recharge their prepaid cards while a data centre will be set up in Titas Bhaban in Karwan Bazar.

They said consumers can recharge their prepaid cards like prepaid electricity cards from the POS.