What are industrial entrepreneurs to do amid the gas crisis

The gas crisis is worsening day by day. Many factories are shutting down due to the gas shortage. New entrepreneurs no longer have the courage to invest. Despite repeated assurances from the government, the continued failures speak for themselves. According to the Bangladesh Chamber of Industry (BCI), gas shortages have reduced production in factories to below 60 percent. Alongside the gas crisis, bank loan interest rates have also risen. Banks are labeling borrowers as defaulters if they miss interest payments for just three months. In such a situation, industrial entrepreneurs are facing an extremely disheartening reality.

Several of the country’s top business organisations jointly held a press conference on the energy crisis in the industrial sector on Sunday (May 25) last. At the event, business leaders stated that high bank loan interest rates and shortages of gas and electricity are disrupting production in factories. On the other hand, even when there is no gas supply, they are still being billed. At the same time, there is pressure to pay workers' salaries and bonuses on time. Now the question arises: If factory owners cannot produce, from where will they pay workers’ wages and bonuses? And how will they repay the loan interest? If this situation continues, many factories may have to shut down after Eid-ul-Azha. Altogether, it seems there is a conspiracy to destroy both industry and industrial entrepreneurs.

According to available information, gas shortages have persisted for several months to varying degrees in areas such as Chattogram, Savar, Ashulia, Gazipur, and Narayanganj’s BSCIC and surrounding regions. In many areas, gas supply has been nearly zero for over a month. As a result, fluctuating gas pressure is damaging mill operations. Due to irregular factory operations, machinery and equipment are also deteriorating. In other words, the damage is not one-dimensional—it is multifaceted. Factory owners and industrial entrepreneurs are at a loss as over what to do. They are not receiving any support or assurance from the government either. Out of frustration and disappointment, the BCI president said, “The government cannot supply gas to industries, yet it threatens jail time for factory owners if they fail to pay workers’ wages. That’s not acceptable.”

At the same press conference, the BTMA president expressed an even more alarming concern: “In 1971, intellectuals were hunted down and killed. In 2025, it’s not just industries, but industrialists who are being destroyed. There’s no gas in the industries, and one factory after another is shutting down.”

Their words reflect just how deep the crisis runs. It is the government’s responsibility to resolve this. If the gas crisis is not addressed immediately, many factories will shut down. New entrepreneurs will no longer dare to invest. The economy will collapse.

Business leaders fear that a serious state of unrest may erupt just before Eid. They do not want such a situation to arise in the country. Neither do we. We want the government to take the concerns of industrial entrepreneurs more seriously. At the same time, we also urge that no operational factory use the gas crisis as an excuse to deprive workers of their rightful wages.