DHAKA: Government authorities decided that the daily six-hour shutdown on gas stations will continue, while indications have it that power outages may also increase.

The decision on the motor-fuel rationing came from a meeting at Energy division Sunday, said Prime Minister`s Energy Adviser Dr Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury at a press briefing later in the day.

He also said, “The decision might be withdrawn when new power plants go for production by December."

On Saturday, the CNG-station owners had threatened to go on an indefinite strike from September 25 if the decision was not revoked.

Earlier on August 16, the decision took effect to increase gas supply to the power stations and to ensure sufficient gas supply to households during Ramadan.

The Energy adviser also said, “Load shedding might be increased in coming days as the power generation will decrease.”

He said gas rationing for fertilizer factories during Ramadan to keep power supply uninterrupted would be lifted in phases.

He urged all to sacrifice under power rationing in facing power shortages.

Besides, the meeting approved the plan for setting up eight rental power plants. Among them, four plants would be 50mw each and the rest 100mw each, the PM’s Energy Adviser informed.

The government has planned to generate 11,000-megawatt electricity in total by 2015 to get rid of the power crunch in the country, he also added.

Some 500mw more power would be produced by the yearend and 1600mw by next year, he hoped.

“The daily average power generation during the Ramadan was 4500 megawatts,” he also informed reporters.

Power secretary Abul Kalam Azad and Energy secretary Mezba Uddin Ahmed also spoke at the press meet on the power and energy situation.

The Power Secretary also said production in Jamuna and Ghorashal fertilizer factories, Chittagong Urea factory and KAFCO would resume gradually.

BDST: 2134 HRS, SEPT 19, 2010