The gas crisis in the Konabari-Gazipur industrial belt will come to an end within a week as a local company is repairing the ruptured gas pipeline at Elenga point in Tangail. “The supply of gas through the repaired gas pipeline will resume within one week. The local company has almost completed its work,” said Mir Moshiur Rahman, acting managing director of state-owned Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company. Risal Mahmud, managing director of Pipeline Engineering and Associates Ltd (PEAL), which was assigned the repair work, said the gas pipeline will be ready for supplying gas by today. “If Titas wants, it can start supplying gas to the industrial belt immediately,” said Mahmud. The pipeline leakage has severely affected gas supply to the industrial area, which is dominated by large export oriented factories, he said. Titas Gas stopped the gas supply from the ruptured pipeline on October 3 and supplied gas via an existing abandoned 12-inch pipeline. However, the gas pressure was insufficient and hampered production at these factories, Mahmud added. Titas appointed PEAL to repair the pipeline within 20 days, he said. PEAL began work on October 19. “The current supply of gas is not adequate to run the machinery at the factories. Adequate pressure is required to run the machinery, especially the spinning mills,” said Faruque Hassan, managing director of Giant Group, a leading garments group at Shafipur in Gazipur. After the damage of the pipeline, Titas supplied gas to the industrial units by suspending supply to the fertiliser factories. Many factory owners have lost millions of dollars in loss of production in the last few days due to the disruption in gas supply, Hassan said. Exporters said they will face difficulties in shipping their products in time and might have to resort to expensive air shipments to meet the deadline. They might have to offer discounts too, if they miss the deadline. Factories at Konabari, Shafipur, Rajendrapur, Kashimpur, Mouchak, Mirzapur, Gazipur, Ashulia, Savar and Kaliakoir are the worst affected, said industry insiders. More than 1,200 textile and garment factories have either suspended their production or are running with electricity, said Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. There are about 400 composite mills in those areas, according to Rahman. The spinning, dyeing and washing plants require a continuous supply of gas with adequate pressure.
