Gas supply to the western part of the capital is expected to restore gradually from Sunday morning as authorities have started repairing the leakage in the national gas grid in Ashulia at the outskirts of Dhaka city.
“Repairing the leakage in the gas grid line in Ashulia is going on . . . supply of gas to the affected area is expected to restore gradually from 8am tomorrow (Sunday),” Kamaruzzaman Khan, director (operations) of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Ltd told BSS.
He told the state news agency that the leakage developed in the 20-inch diameter gridline near Ashulia transmission station disrupted supply to Titas’ western zone.
Titas supplies gas to nearly 2.8 million residences in Dhaka. It also provides gas to various industrial areas and factories.
Before the latest incident, the Titas, which supplies gas in the greater Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions, was already facing a shortfall of at least 300mmcfd against its demand of around 2,200mmcfd. In the Dhaka metropolitan area alone, the demand is around 1,700mmcfd.
Since Friday evening, Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Jigatala, Sukrabad, Shankar, Kalabagan, Shyamoli, Kallyanpur, Gabtoli, Savar and Ashulia areas have been experiencing an acute gas crisis, owing to a technical glitch in a major pipeline of Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) in Ashulia.
The GTCL is the only government entity responsible for gas transmission in the areas covered by six state-run gas distribution companies.