Editorial
The worries about gas
New, energetic steps needed to turn a corner
Some very real worries assail us where the matter is one of gas in the country. With reports of a marginal increase in the supply of gas in the face of growing demands, our attention has long been riveted on the exploration issue. As a report in this newspaper yesterday makes it clear, not much of a headway has been made in gas exploration in order to ensure a smooth, uninterrupted supply of gas well into the near future. Contrast that with the praiseworthy initiatives the government has taken in recent times to augment the supply of electricity. Moves are on to generate 2,500 megawatts of electricity. Such moves are yet to be seen in the gas sector. That is where our concerns come in.
Obviously, steps such as shutting down CNG stations for six hours a day as a way of conserving gas as well as electricity have had at best a negligible impact, leaving out core issues to be addressed. The bigger idea, though, should now be on an acceleration of steps towards increasing the production and supply of gas. That, however, is not quite what organisations like Petrobangla appear to be doing. In these past 22 months, Petrobangla has made only a single move and that too through initiating a bid for tenders. The tender process remains to be completed, which itself could be seen as a sign of the snail's pace at which programmes for an augmentation of gas by Petrobangla and Bapex are moving. Indeed, there are good reasons to think that the prospects of a solution to the gas crisis by 2014 do not at this stage look feasible, unless of course, a dramatic major discovery is made in Netrakona-Sunamganj area early next year. A wholesale slicing away at bureaucratic sloth is the need of the hour. The country has been informed that the supply of gas now stands at 2,000 million cubic feet per day (mcfd), that indeed where earlier the supply was 1,800 mcfd, it rose by 200 mcfd in the last 20 months. That is a somewhat comforting thought. But it still is not enough to remove our worries.
In the circumstances, the plans that have already been undertaken, notably the move for import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar must be expedited towards implementation. As we understand it, the government means to import 500 mcfd per day from Qatar which, together with the cheap gas available in Bangladesh at this point, could go a good way towards meeting consumer needs. But for such results to be arrived at, speedy negotiations for a satisfactory conclusion of the deal as well as steps to build a terminal would have to be expeditiously undertaken.
There is little question that electricity and gas are two major priorities for the government. It is on how it performs in these sectors, in how it caters to public needs during the remainder of its term in office, that it will be judged by the electorate. Need one say more?
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