“We have undertaken a plan to set up one land-based LNG (liquefied natural gas) Terminal and one LPG (liquefied petroleum, gas) terminal in Matarbari area of Cox`s Bazar. Once the two projects are implemented, we hope, we can offer gas at an affordable price,” he said while talking to reporters at his ministry`s conference room.
Japan has been cooperating Bangladesh in different ways to resolve its power and energy crisis, he said adding, “They have helped us to prepare our power system master plan and now they are helping to prepare an energy master plan.”
Replying to a question on the government subsidy to energy sector, especially to gas sector, he said there are appeals pending with Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) for raising gas price as the government has to import LNG at higher price.
“We have been importing LNG since August last year. The government has already spent Tk 6,000 crore as subsidy for this import,” he said adding that if gas price is not raised in the coming years, it will require Tk 8,000 for subsidy in gas sector.
He claimed that about Tk 14,000 crore was invested in LNG sector for import of 1000 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) and another Tk 14,000 crore will be required if the import is increased by another 1000 mmcfd.
Nasrul Hamid admitted that some areas across the country had to experience load shedding during Eid and it happened because of weakness in distribution system.
The state minister said that implementation of two Chinese-funded distribution improvement projects are getting delayed for which still distribution system is experiencing some problems.
He said this year about 2500 MW of electricity will be added to the national grid but it will not be possible to ensure uninterrupted power supply in next 3 years unless the distribution projects are implemented.
He said the government’s biggest challenge is now to provide uninterrupted power and energy supply to industries in the economic zones.