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CNG filling station owners have announced a nationwide strike on July 30, demanding an increase in their sales commission from Tk8 to Tk13.96 per cubic metre, along with three other demands.
Under the programme, all CNG filling stations across the country will remain closed from 6:00am to 12:00 midnight on the day.
The Bangladesh CNG Filling Station and Conversion Workshop Owners Association also warned of an indefinite shutdown from August 23 if their demands are not met.
The announcement came at a press conference held at Akram Tower in Dhaka’s Bijoynagar on Tuesday.
Reading out a written statement, Steering Committee Convener Amiruzzaman Chowdhury said the commission on CNG sales has remained unchanged at Tk8 per cubic metre since September 1, 2015, despite rising inflation and higher operating costs.
He said station owners have faced increased expenses due to higher electricity tariffs, workers’ wages, the US dollar exchange rate, bank guarantee charges and interest rates.
Since the government sets both the purchase and retail prices of CNG, owners have no scope to pass the additional costs on to consumers, he added.
The association’s four demands include raising the sales commission to Tk13.96 per cubic metre, introducing an automatic adjustment mechanism whenever gas prices increase, stopping the collection of additional security deposits from existing customers following gas price hikes, and reducing licence, renewal and road-connection lease fees charged by government agencies.
According to the association, electricity tariffs have been increased seven times since 2015, with the latest hike on June 3 expected to raise monthly electricity bills for CNG stations by nearly 20 percent.
It said this alone justifies a commission increase of Tk2.46 per cubic metre, while another Tk3.50 is needed to offset higher operating costs caused by inflation, wage increases and exchange rate fluctuations.
The association also said a technical committee under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources and Petrobangla had previously recommended increasing the commission by Tk2.98 per cubic metre.
However, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) approved only a Tk1 increase in 2015, leaving the remaining Tk1.98 unimplemented.
Association leaders claimed that the failure to revise the commission has put nearly Tk5,000 crore in investment in the CNG sector at risk.
They also alleged that repeated attempts to meet the adviser to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources and the BERC chairman to discuss their demands had been unsuccessful.
