CNG station licence process to be streamlined

Dhaka, May 18 (bdnews24.com) – Complicated licensing procedures for setting up CNG refuelling stations are about to be streamlined. A new initiative of the watchdog, Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), aims to establish a one-stop service centre. Experts at a meeting on Tuesday said this would save time and hassle for the applicants who will not have to secure no-objection certificates (NOC) from several government agencies including the environment directorate and the explosives department. Generally, aspiring parties have to apply to the energy regulator after getting the NOCs for the final approval which takes about 10 days for evaluation. Applicants have to secure their NOCs from six agencies in total. Besides environment and explosives, CNG stations require clearance from the fire department, district commissioner's office, Rupantorito Prakritik Gas Company Limited and traffic police authorities. All the agencies were represented at the meeting. This procedure takes over a year and sometimes around two years. BERC currently provides licences for CNG stations only, but it is also thinking of giving licences for CNG conversion workshops as well. Those licences are currently issued by the explosives department. The initiative was taken to make the procedure easy and to ensure transparency, BERC chairman Syed Yousuf Hossain said at an open meeting of the commission. "We want to formulate an efficient process for applications, without requiring unnecessary information," he added. The process to set the criteria and procedure of having a licence was first taken in March last year at a technical committee meeting. A draft of the proposal is under scrutiny now with the recommendations provided by stakeholders. Tuesday's open meeting was held to clarify the suggestions and for further addition. Although there was opposition from representatives of different agencies currently involved in the process, the finance ministry's representative portrayed the benefits and urged for quick implementation of the scheme. According to the speakers, the finance ministry had in fact initiated the proposal. By the end of the meeting, most of the stakeholders agreed to the benefits of the new streamlined procedure which will be implemented through a law once the proposed regulation is vetted by the law ministry. bdnews24.com/pks/ta/1913h.