It may take 2 years to overcome gas crisis: Commerce minister

Photo: Collected

Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir has said it may take around two years to build the necessary infrastructure to permanently address the country’s ongoing gas crisis.

“Once the infrastructure is built, the situation is expected to improve significantly within the next two years,” he said.

The minister made the remarks while responding to questions from journalists after a district-level workshop on preparing the annual work plan for the 2026-27 fiscal year and reviewing the implementation of the previous year’s plan in Sylhet city on Saturday.

The workshop was organised by the Department of Agricultural Extension under the project titled “Agricultural Development in the Sylhet Region through Modern Technology”.

Muktadir said there was no denying that various mills and factories across the country were suffering due to the gas shortage.

“This is not a crisis created by the present government; it is an inherited crisis. However, the necessary infrastructure must be developed to overcome it,” he said.

The government was working beyond conventional approaches to address the energy crisis, he said.

“To permanently overcome the crisis, we have to build the necessary infrastructure. We need to allow sufficient time for this,” the minister said.

He said the government was also working on measures to deal with the immediate situation alongside developing long-term infrastructure.

Asked about the possibility of importing LNG from Malaysia, Muktadir said Malaysia’s small vessels were currently engaged elsewhere, creating limitations in bringing gas from the country quickly.

“Even so, the government is trying to determine whether the situation can be improved to some extent on a temporary basis,” he said.