Owners turn defaulters

Kazi Zahidul Hasan/ Anisul Islam Noor :
Tk 300 crore investment of some 52 CNG filling station owners remained stuck for years due to denial of gas connections by the gas distribution companies, sources said.
They said many of the filling station owners have already become defaulters due to failure of paying back their installment. Even, some banks have issued auction notice to their land and machinery mortgaged to them. “I have borrowed about Tk 3.5 crore from a commercial bank in 2008 to build a CNG refueling station at Dhamrai. In the meantime, I have installed all the infrastructure and imported necessary machinery for the station. But unfortunately, I could not open my filling station due to lack of gas connection,” Abdullah Al Mamun, told The New Nation on Saturday. “Six years have already been elapsed and still I am waiting for the gas connection,” he said, adding, “By this time, I became a bank defaulter and the concerned bank has issued legal notice asking me to sell my mortgage property for repaying its loan.”
Expressing his frustration over the issue, he said, “In last two years, I met high officials of Titas Gas, Petrobangla, BERC and Energy Ministry but they have failed to give any satisfactory answer.”
Sources said the Energy Ministry earlier formed a committee led by a joint secretary to study the feasibility of gas connection.
The Ministry has already asked Petrobangla to provide connection to the 52 CNG station gradually. But none of the CNG station got gas connection till now.
Of the 52 CNG station, 35 under Titas Gas Company Ltd, four under West Zone Gas Company Ltd, three under Karnaphuli Gas Company Ltd and three at Bakhrabad Gas Company, according to Bangladesh CNG Filling Station and Conversion Workshop Owners’ Association.
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) issued licenses in favour of these CNG stations.
The government in an order issued on July 30, 2009 had mentioned that all new gas connections “except already promised ones” will remain suspended until the gas production reaches 2200 million cubic feet per day.
The officials of gas distribution companies are making ‘wrong interpretations’ to manipulate the government order restricting gas connections to these CNG filling stations, said a leader of the CNG Owners’ Association. He alleged that five of their fellow CNG filling station owners have already received gas connections in exchange of big amount of bribes to the cornered officials of Petrobangla.
Jahangir Akram, owner of Otithi Filling Station of Bogra, is also facing similar problem.
He said that he has been waiting for several years and now became frustrated due to lack of gas connection.
Jahangir took Tk 3.32 crore loan from Social Islami Bank, Bogra Branch, for setting up his filling station.
“As I failed to start the filling station, I became bank defaulter,” he added. He further said that recently he received notice from the bank for paying back the loan. On 27 November this year, the bank issued notice for auctioning my mortgaged property worth Tk 10 crore denying my appeal for rescheduling the loan, he added.
“I was entitled to get the facility as per a BRPD circular of Bangladesh Bank (BB). But, the bank issued the notice ignoring BB order,” he noted.
He also urged the government to take up the issue immediately to save their investment.