Another example of wasteful energy projects

The two gas compressor stations in Tangail and Brahmanbaria stand as yet another example of wasteful investment of public money in Bangladesh. According to a report by this daily, these two compressor stations, built in 2016, have been lying underutilised due to insufficient gas supply, while the government has been paying crores of taxpayers' money to foreign firms in various fees—a shortsighted endeavour further burdening our economy.

According to our report, the state-run Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) set up the compressors to supply gas at a number of districts, including Dhaka, at adequate pressure. These were supposed to be supplied with both imported LNG and gas from Sylhet and Brahmanbaria fields. Setting up the facilities cost a whopping Tk 1,331 crore, most of which was borrowed from ADB. Since then, the Tangail station has never been used. The Brahmanbaria one has never seen full utilisation of its capacity either; in 2023, only 9.79 percent of it was used, owing to a gas crisis caused by both restrictions on LNG import (due to lack of foreign currency) and a substantial decline in domestic gas production.

We wonder how our policymakers were convinced to approve and implement this project. Granted, no one could have foreseen the recent global events that caused economic shocks to Bangladesh. But what about domestic gas production, which has been on a decline for years? And did our policymakers not plan for sudden, unforeseen obstacles in supply at all? Because of their ineptitude and lack of foresight, we have hardly made any use of such expensive machinery, yet the GTCL paid Tk 309 crore to five foreign companies for running, maintaining and servicing them. This is akin to paying hefty capacity charges for idle power plants, or the potential charges for a surplus LNG regasification capacity that we are set to reach by the end of this decade.

It seems Bangladesh is stuck in a loop of incompetence, lack of accountability, and mismanagement—not just in the energy and power sectors, but all public sectors. This state of affairs cannot continue if we want to keep our desired economic progress on track. The government must repurpose the compressor stations for alternative uses, as recommended by a technical committee in October, and also look into extensive gas exploration domestically to provide alternative supply sources. It also must break the cycle of harebrained project planning and make those who allow such wasteful projects fully accountable for their actions.