Cng- Refuelling Stations
Fuel crisis causes long queues
Kausar Islam Ayon
Long queues at compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in the city are back again. Station owners said that the severe power crisis is responsible for this while a rapid increase in CNG-run vehicles is also a major reason. Vehicles now have to wait in long queues for up to an hour for refilling. Staff at some CNG stations said a smooth power supply could have shortened the queue by half. They said they face load shedding for three to five hours a day that leads to huge loss for the stations. "Such disruptions cut profit for my company," Shaheed, an employee of Anudip CNG filling and conversion station in Moghbazar, said. The vehicle owners who have converted to CNG are in trouble while the CNG-run autorickshaw drivers are suffering the most. "If I have to wait in the queue for one to two hours at the CNG stations how would I survive? The struggle we went through in 2004 is coming back," said Amjad Ali, an autorickshaw driver. The private cars and buses are now making it a custom to refill tanks at night. "During the daytime standing in the long queues is a horrible experience. So I send my driver to collect gas after 9pm," said Ahsan Ullah, a private car owner. "But the problem is the CNG stations often do not have optimum gas pressure at night." The Bangladesh CNG Filling Station and Conversion Owners Association (BCFSCOA) feels that the increase in the number of CNG-run vehicles is also responsible for the unexpected long queues at the stations. "Yes, electricity crisis is one of the reasons but the number of CNG vehicles is increasing rapidly but not the CNG refilling stations," Manoranjan Bhakta, member of the BCFSCOA, said. BCFSCOA statistics show 3,500 to 4,000 vehicles are being converted to CNG in the city every month. The statistics also show that a CNG station can refill 700 to 800 vehicles a day depending on the gas pressure and power crisis. This means the queue will keep on stretching unless six to seven stations open every month. He said the process of establishing stations should be made easier. "It takes 18 to 24 months to get permission from different departments to set up a CNG station. We urge the government to make the process easier," said Bhakta. The city now has 82 CNG stations against a total number of 75,000 CNG-run vehicles.
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