Why industries suffering from shortage of gas and electricity

In the second week of this month (April 7 to 10), the Investment Conference-2025 was held in the capital with great pomp. BIDA chief Ashiq Chowdhury gave a very glamorous presentation. His fluent English created a stir all around. So, who is this Ashiq Chowdhury! We have never seen anything like this! There was news of investment worth thousands of crores of taka. It was heard that Bangladesh will become Singapore or Thailand by 2035. Thank God all around. Many failures of the interim government have been overlooked with this investment conference.

But according to news published in the media yesterday (April 27), industrial production in the country is decreasing due to gas and electricity crisis. Many factories are closing. As a result, businessmen are no longer enthusiastic about new investments. So far, we have heard that garment factories in Gazipur-Savar are closing due to gas crisis. Now steel factories are being closed in Chattogram. According to the information received, there are fifty large and small steel factories in the country and 62 percent of those are in the port city. Not only steel; Chattogram stands second in the garment sector after Dhaka. Due to the crisis, 50 of these factories have been closed in the last seven months. And the activities of more than a hundred companies that were on the path of investment have come to a standstill.

Those concerned say that the gas and electricity crisis and the increase in prices have affected industrial factories; especially textile, ceramic and steel factories. These are gas-dependent. Therefore, production is being significantly affected due to the lack of proper gas supply, not getting the desired level of gas pressure and the increase in prices.

The question is, if domestic factories are closed due to the gas and electricity crisis, in which sector will foreign investors actually invest? If factories continue to close and investment continues to decrease in this way, which way will the country become like Singapore?

There has been a lot of discussion in the country about the gas crisis for a long time. The gas crisis has become severe since last winter. The previous government did not provide a permanent solution to the gas problem, and there is no sign of it in the current government either. Meanwhile, the political environment is also uncertain. Until an elected government comes, a fair environment for investment will not return, and there will be no permanent long-term solution to the gas crisis. So what is the use of holding an investment conference without creating an investment environment?

Instead of making these sensational speeches, the government should take initiatives to permanently solve the gas crisis. It is feared that the gas crisis will increase further in the future. Then it will be very harmful to our economy. Considering all aspects, there is no alternative to eliminating the gas crisis at this time.