Prime minister’s energy adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury on Monday suggested textile mills owners to use diesel-fired captive power plants and said that there was no scope to increase the supply of gas in next one or two years. ‘If you import diesel for the purpose of producing export goods you will get duty drawback and it is possible to implement the diesel based power generation instead of using gas in the textile sector as the price of the fuel is now lower on the international market,’ Tawfiq said at a seminar on Energy Efficiency and Textile : Lifeline of the Economy, organised by Bangladesh Textile Mills Association at Hotel Lakeshore in the capital. He suggested textiles and garment factory owners to start dialogue with the government on the issue, saying, ‘You have to find out a solution for next two years and then the supply of gas will increase as the government has taken various initiatives.’ The prime minister’s adviser said that the imported liquified natural gas would be added in the transmission line within two years while at the same time the government has a plan to drill 10 exploration wells. Tawfiq said that the BTMA should set up a cell for cogeneration of power and the efficiency level of the captive power plants which are running with gas. AK Azad Chowdhury, former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said that it would not be possible to use diesel for captive power generation. He also expressed his doubt whether factories would get gas after a certain time. ‘The advisor promised to supply gas after two years but where is the guarantee. In many cases we see that government made commitment but in most of the cases the promises remain unmet,’ he said. Azad said that 12 per cent of gas is going for domestic use which is completely an unproductive sector. M Tamim, energy expert and a professor of petroleum engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said that this is the time for prioritizing who would get gas and who are the driving force of the economy. For enhancing energy security, he suggested for conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, domestic energy resources and import. Tamim, presenting a keynote paper at the seminar, said that establishing market-based proper energy pricing can ensure reliable and quality energy supply. He also said that Combined Heat and Power has the highest thermal efficiency of all gas usage and textile being the major export contributor and the best candidate for the CHP, the sector should be given captive power priority provided co-generation is adopted. The generation and supply of gas and energy improved a lot in last couple of years, but still people have a lack of confidence whether they will get uninterrupted supply, Tamim said. He said that the fertilizer factories are unacceptably inefficient (except Jamuna and KAFCO) in using gas. Tamim suggested for conversion of private vehicles to petrol and octane decreasing the prices of the items and the measure can reduce pressure on gas. Tapan Chowdhury, president of BTMA, said that textile sector requires uninterrupted and quality power supply as the sector uses imported state of the art machineries. Tapan said that recently the gas tariff for captive generation increased by 100 per cent that put serious strain on the rate of return on investment and profitability. Former Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Atiqul Islam, former vice president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers an Exporters Association Mohammed Hatem, Former BTMA president Jahngir Alamin and Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission chairman AR Khan, among others, spoke at the seminer.
