82km gas pipeline 'risky'

PGCL stops giving fresh connection

6 December 2009, 17:00 PM

Hasibur Rahman Bilu, Bogra

Around 82 kilometres gas pipeline from Baghabari of Sirajganj to Ishwardi of Pabna under Pashchimanchal Gas Company Limited (PGCL) faces threat of explosion due to high pressure of gas. The eight-inch diameter pipeline was designed to carry 4.5 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) gas but it usually supplies 5.5mmcfd to 7mmcfd during peak time which is very risky for the line, said the authorities of PGCL, a company of Petrobangla. On November 4, a four-member probe committee was formed to find out irregularities of the earlier completed project as well as risk factors of the pipeline. The gas pipeline is getting thinner day by day due to internal sandblasting, Md Anisul Haque, PGCL general manager and member secretary of the probe committee, told The Daily Star over phone. The probe committee has collected some iron particles from the filter of a compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station in Ishwardi, which shows the signs of decay in the pipeline. “Now we are not giving any commercial gas connection due to threat to the gas pipeline,” said Md Ali Hossain, managing director of PGCL. The gas transmission pipeline was set up in 2001 to ensure gas supply in Ishwardi Export Promotion Zone via Pabna at a cost of Tk 17 crore without any long-term plan, PGCL sources said. Meanwhile, 8.5 kilometre long gas pipeline from Tinmatha to Gakul in Bogra will face the risk damage if the PGCL authorities allow gas supply according to the requirement of BCL Paper Mill at Gakul. The pipeline, set up at a cost of Tk 2.50 crore, was designed to carry 3mmcfd gas but the line will have to carry 4.5mmcfd gas to meet the requirement of the paper mill.