Work on 2 Ashuganj gas compressor plants from Nov

The stations will be built at the site of the proposed NGL Fractionation Plant, which is being shifted to Kailashtila in Sylhet.

Survey work for the costly compressor plants has been completed and other preparations are being done now.

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The work will be completed by October 2007, according to highly placed sources in Gas Transmission Company Ltd, a sister company of Petrobangla.

The decision to set up the two stations was taken early this year, the sources said.

Mentionably, the decision taken earlier to shift the fractionation plant from Ashugang to Kailashtila had triggered violent protests by local people, in which many people were injured in clashes with law enforcers.

The two compressor plants are being set up to supply gas to the National Grid. It is part of an ambitious plan to take gas to Khulna through a proposed 419 kilometre pipeline.

The two compressor plants and the 419 kilometre pipeline will cost 80 million US dollars, to be provided by Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources said.

The 20-inch diameter pipeline will be laid in phases. In the first phase, a pipeline will be laid from Ashuganj to the eastern side of Jamuna Bridge, they said.

To ensure availability of gas, five new wells will be dug in five gas fields-- Titas Gas Field, Rashidpur Gas Field, Kailastila Gas Field, Sylhet Gas Field and Bakharabad Gas Field, they said.

After completion of the two compressor stations, Ashuganj will turn into a prime spot in the gas transmission network. The two stations will create employment for many people in the area, they said.

Setting up of the NGL Fractionation Plant in Ashuganj was decided in 1990 and some preliminary was done.

The decision has been revised partly in view of pilferage of huge quantities of condenset at numerous points in the 175-kilometre pipeline from Kailashtila to Ashuganj.

Condenset worth about Tk 100 crore was pilfered from the pipeline through holes made by organised gangs in last 10 years, it was revealed at a meeting of high officials, held at Brahmanbaria Circuit House in September last year.

At least 40 cases were filed with police in Ashuganj, Sarail, Brahmanbaria, Habiganj and Mulvibazar and security was beefed up but the pilferage could not be stopped.

But the local people have not backed out from their demand for setting up of the fractionation plant in Ashuganj.

They have formed an 'all-party action committee' to continue agitation for setting up of the plant there.

Talking to this correspondent, Isa Khan, convener of the committee, said Ashuganj on the bank of Meghna river is ideally located for both the fractionation plant and the two compressor stations.