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Dhaka’s rusty gas pipes to be replaced
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid yesterday said the government would replace the capital’s old gas pipelines with new ones.
“We are taking up a large project. We will remove all old gas pipelines in Dhaka and will lay new lines,” he said.
Nasrul was addressing the inauguration ceremony of the two-day South Asia LNG Forum 2019 at a city hotel.
He said the total cost of the project would be around Tk 1,200 crore.
According to officials, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited found that about 160 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas is wasted every day either through pilferage or through leakages in old pipelines.
There are 7,000 kilometres of distribution pipelines in the capital and many have become worn out as those were installed around 35-40 years ago.
The Titas Gas distributes gas to 2.78 million consumers, including households, power plants, fertiliser factories, industries and CNG refueling stations.
Nasrul said the government expects that there would be better management in the gas sector and the country’s development partners like the JICA and the European Union were supporting the government in this regard.
He said the government cannot meet the demand for gas. He expressed optimism that the situation would improve by the end of this year.
The government was expediting the exploration of onshore gas fields, the state minister said. “We have found gas in Bhola. We see possibilities of striking gas in greater Mymensingh and Madaripur.”
Nasrul said the use of LNG has been on the rise in the country recently. “We hope that the LNG sector will be expanded within the next two years.”
He said affording LNG remained a challenge for the consumers. And that was why the government was trying to explore new onshore gas fields. “If we discover it soon, a scope will be created for producing a mixed fuel of LNG and gas. The price situation would be better then.”
Currently, Bangladesh imports LNG from Qatar’s RasGas and Oman’s Oman Trading International.
All Events Group and Global Event Management Services Limited jointly organised the LNG Forum.
https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/news/dhakas-rusty-gas-pipes-be-replaced-1782676