4 Top trade bodies seek zonal gas rationing to avert factory shutdowns
Four major trade associations representing Bangladesh’s multi-billion-dollar textile and garment export sector have submitted a joint petition to state-owned Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL), urging immediate gas reallocation and a structured weekly zonal rationing scheme to prevent widespread factory shutdowns.
The joint letter signed by leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), and Bangladesh Terry Towel and Linen Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BTTLMEA) highlights a severe disparity in national gas distribution that has left key manufacturing belts severely under-pressurised and unable to meet critical export deadlines.
Trade leaders emphasised that supplying gas at full pressure to one zone at a time on a rotational basis would allow factories to operate efficiently rather than running at substandard productivity every day.
Under the proposed model, manufacturers can make accurate production projection plans and avoid paying wages to workers sitting idle during unscheduled low-pressure hours.
Data cited in the letter reveals that over 90 per cent of Bangladesh’s textile and garment manufacturing base is concentrated within the Titas Gas franchise area, encompassing roughly 6,500 factories, or 94 per cent of the country’s total industrial textile units.
These establishments employ 1.2 crore workers representing 92 percent of the sector’s workforce and generate $52 billion in annual export earnings.
An analysis of gas supply data from September 5 to September 9 conducted by the four trade bodies exposed significant structural distribution imbalances across regional networks.
Titas accounts for 75.88 per cent, or 1,488 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), of the national approved industrial and captive gas load.
GTCL was scheduled to deliver 980 mmcfd to the Titas network, but actual daily receipts averaged only 883.20 mmcfd (70.28 percent of allocation), creating a deficit that halted factory machinery.
Conversely, five other regional gas distribution companies received 373.60 mmcfd during the same period, exceeding their collective proportional share by 70.37 mmcfd.
To prevent simultaneous operational paralysis across all industrial zones, the trade bodies proposed dividing major industrial clusters into distinct zones.
Under the scheme, each zone would receive full gas flow and adequate line pressure for five continuous days a week, followed by two days of planned shutoffs or limited supply.
The trade bodies urged GTCL to immediately reallocate excess gas from over-supplied regional distribution zones to the Titas area, guarantee baseline line pressure for safe machine operations, and swiftly roll out the rotational roster to protect national export commitments.
