Plagued by gas crisis
Over 10 areas of Dhaka have been facing a gas crisis for the last six months, with experts blaming supply shortages, illegal and excessive gas connections, and pipeline leaks for this situation.
Although the situation improved in February and the middle of March, the crisis reared its head again at the beginning of Ramadan.
The areas include Jurain, Donia, Nama Shyampur, Mirpur, Bhatara, Shahjahanpur, Mirhajirbagh, East Rajabazar, Gandaria, Moghbazar, and Shanarpar.
Amid this situation, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company has identified 60 areas, including two in Keraniganj and the whole of Narayanganj. Titas aims to change old pipelines -- mainly to solve leakages and low pressure -- and install bigger pipelines to meet the demand in the identified areas.
Meanwhile, residents of the areas are now miserable, as their living cost has increased due to spending extra money to manage their cooking needs.
For example, Safkat Hasan, a resident of College Road in East Jurain, now has to spend around Tk 2,500 a month apart from his regular Tk 1,050 gas bill to cook three meals a day for his family. Even though the bills are issued, the family does not get gas for a single minute.
In a bizarre turn of events, they started getting water from the gas pipeline, due to a leakage, around a year ago. After that ordeal, they have not received gas for the last five months, they said.
"We are now totally out of gas; we only got it one day, for a couple of hours, at the beginning of Ramadan," said Safkat.
The situation improved for a couple of weeks before Ramadan, after a prolonged crisis in winter. However, we've been facing the same problem again since the first day of Ramadan. The supply stops totally before iftar time, when we need it badly.
The family has resorted to cooking using firewood, which takes a long time and costs more, Safkat said, adding that many more houses in the area are also dealing with the same crisis.
Some employees of Titas went to the area a few months ago and assured the residents of solving the problem. However, nothing has changed, he mentioned.
Belal Hossain, a resident of Nitaipur of Shanarpar under Siddhirganj, also has to spend around Tk 2,000 a month in addition to his gas bill of Tk 1,050. He has not been getting a regular supply of gas for the last six months.
The crisis is man-made. Although the country has a lot of hydrocarbon potential, we have not emphasised on gas exploration. We had appointed international oil companies to explore our natural resources instead of increasing our local gas companies' ability to explore, which is costly.
"I'm in a dilemma about whether to disconnect my gas connection or not," he said.
Masudur Rahman Khan, a resident of Mirhajirbagh, said, "The situation improved for a couple of weeks before Ramadan, after a prolonged crisis in winter. However, we have been facing the same problem again since the first day of Ramadan. The supply stops totally before iftar time, when we need it badly."
A former official of Petrobangla said there are some areas under Titas where gas connections are over-saturated, which means where 100 connections are required, they have given 200 or more.
He said in some areas, the pipelines are inadequately small to supply the required amount of gas.
An official of Titas said as the authorities are not providing new gas connections for a long time, many syndicates have formed in and outside Dhaka to provide illegal connections, which ultimately leads to all consumers suffering due to such crises.
According to Titas' data, the total number of domestic consumers in Dhaka is around 28.65 lakh. From January 2020 to December 2022, 1218.28 kilometres of illegal lines were cut.
Meanwhile, the country's gas demand is about 4,000 million cubic feet (mmcfd) per day, whereas it is getting 2,700 to 2,900 mmcfd, said an official of Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd.
Officials attributed the dearth of supply to the reduced import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a long time.
An official of Petrobangla said they are now conducting area-based rationing to balance the supply.
Energy expert Prof M Shamsul Alam said the crisis is man-made. "Although the country has a lot of hydrocarbon potential, we have not emphasised on gas exploration."
"We had appointed international oil companies to explore our natural resources instead of increasing our local gas companies' ability to explore, which is costly," he said.
Alam, also vice president of Consumers' Association of Bangladesh, said, "Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission made a fund to explore gas resources with the help of consumers. However, the government has not been able to spend more than 30 percent of the fund till now."
"It is an example of the government's negligence in exploration. They love to import expensive LNG from the international spot market. Now, there is a lack of foreign currency to import LNG, and the government is in trouble," he added.
Urban planning expert Adil Mohammad Khan said the policy on supplying gas has shifted.
The government is not giving new connections, as it is showing interest to supply liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) via cylinders, he noted.
Supplying gas in residential areas and preventing leakages would be more risk-free and profitable in Bangladesh than making people use cylinders, he said.
Although the government has stopped providing connections to residential areas, the number of illegal connections is increasing, leading to a higher risk of accidents, he mentioned.
In March, Md Salim Miah, director (operations) of Titas, said the situation was a bit better compared to the crisis several months ago, and it will improve further when the LNG supply increases.
Salim said they have taken the initiative to replace old pipelines to make the supply smoother, as leakages will go down.
They have already completed a feasibility study and are working to prepare a development proposal. He, however, mentioned that it will take more time to start the work, as many procedures are required, he said.
When asked about illegal connections, he said they will take more steps to disconnect them.
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