No gas, power connection to industries in unplanned areas: Nasrul

State minister for energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid on Monday said gas and power connections would not be given to the industrial units unless those are established in planned industrial zones, reports UNB.

"Not only economic zones, there're industrial zones of BSCIC. No gas or power connection will be given to industries if those aren't set up in planned zones," he said.

Nasrul was talking to reporters after holding a meeting with deputy commissioners (DCs) at the cabinet division of the secretariat.

Referring to prepaid metre, the state minister said,
"There're some problems at the field level regarding the metre as it's a new technology."

He said a guideline will be formulated soon for land acquisition to install power transmission lines.

About outstanding power bill, Nasrul said the country now has arrear electricity bills of about Tk 14 billion (Tk 1,400 crore) in addition to outstanding gas bills.

He mentioned that there are problems in power and gas supply due to the establishment of unplanned industrial units. The entrepreneurs may shift to planned industrial areas in the future, if they want to do.