BIDA urges BERC to revise recent hike in gas price
Business Desk :
Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) has urged the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to revise the recently announced gas price hike, saying that otherwise, it would affect the economic momentum.
“The move could hurt the country’s investment prospects and economic momentum,” BIDA said in a letter to the BERC on Tuesday, reports BSS.
BERC recently announced a 33 per cent increase in gas prices for industries planning to get new connections or expand with additional gas consumption.
In the letter, BIDA Executive Chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun said the newly fixed gas tariff discriminates against new investors, who will have to pay 33 per cent more than existing ones.
“This discriminatory policy will discourage new investments,” he added.
He said investors are already considering this decision unfair and have taken a stand against it.
The BIDA chief also pointed to the timing of the announcement, which came just days after the “Bangladesh Investment Summit 2025”, organised by BIDA from April 7 to 10.
The event drew around 450 investors and business leaders from 40 countries, many of whom expressed interest in investing in Bangladesh, he added.
“Several investors signed MoUs and agreements to invest in the country. The announcement of a discriminatory gas price hike right after the summit will undoubtedly create negative sentiment among them,” Ashik said.
The announcement of a discriminatory gas price hike right after the summit will undoubtedly create negative sentiment among them, he added.
He urged BERC to reconsider the decision in favour of an investment-friendly pricing model and proposed organising a review and impact analysis workshop to evaluate the implications of the hike.
BIDA Chairman Chowdhury Ashik could not be reached for comment.
BIDA’s concern comes when foreign investors have also questioned the timing of the gas price hike. The Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh have expressed concern over BERC’s decision to introduce a revised gas tariff structure that differentiates between new, committed, and existing customers within the same industrial category.