Staff Correspondent

The Petrobangla’s proposal to hike gas prices for new factory supply lines and for additional use by factories would crimp production line expansion, fears Professor Dr Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow at the Centra for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

The government also cannot subsidise the rates, thanks to years of energy sector corruption perpetrated by the deposed Awami League regime, Dr Mustafizur said in an opinion piece published on the daily Bangladesh Pratidin.

The government has decided to start setting up new supply lines, after a prolonged block, but the extra price factory owners would be asked to pay under the proposal will lead to tepid business growth and continued unemployment.

The people, industries, and policymakers now have to pay the price for Awami League’s misdeeds, Dr Mustafizur wrote.

During their over 15 year tenure, Awami League fascist rulers preferred exorbitantly costly LNG imports and piped fuel purchases from neighbouring India, to make illicit behind-the-scene monetary gains and serve the interests of malign foreign actors.

They almost intentionally avoided looking inward at Bangladesh’s own resources, despite growing fuel import costs, and now the country has to suffer from the accumulated problems.

Though the pains would be unavoidable, they would be temporary, Dr Mustafizur hopes, noting that for alleviating the crisis in the middle-term, the government must immediately go for land-based and offshore fuel exploration.

If investment can be attracted to offshore gas and oil blocks, hopefully the pains would be short-lived, said the CPD distinguished fellow.

Petrobangla has proposed hiking industrial gas prices to a whooping Tk75.72 per unit from the existing Tk31.5 per unit. Though the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) would hold public hearing before approving the proposal, industrialists have already started fretting saying the proposal should have been discussed with stakeholders even before finalising it.

Awami League-era price hikes, ranging from 150%-180% raises, have failed to supply adequate amount of fuel to factories, despite assurances, creating serious doubts among industrialists over any future “pay more for assured supply” tradeoff.

The proposal, if enacted, would not give any certainty over increased fuel supply, but will threaten existing businesses, discourage potential production growth and ultimately prolong the unemployment crisis, industry insiders fear.