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By Syed Shukur Ali Shuvo

SYLHET, Feb 16, 2024 (BSS) - As part of the government campaign for
digitization, a data centre of 50000 prepaid gas metres under Jalalabad Gas
Transmission and Distribution System Limited (JGTDSL) will be commissioned
tomorrow at Gas Bhaban, Mendiganj here.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid will
commission the data centre and data recovery centre as the chief guest at
JGTDSL Bhaban tomorrow morning.

"With sincere efforts of the energy and mineral resources division, the
JGTDSL installed 50000 prepaid gas metres and set up data centre and data
recovery centre at its distribution areas," Nasrul Hamid told BSS today.

He said Jalalabad Gas Distribution Company implemented a project to install
prepaid gas metres in the houses of 50,000 consumers in Sylhet.

"The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working
relentlessly to ensure energy security in the country, and as part of it, we
are working to explore new gas wells and drill wells aimed at extracting gas
and oil from our own," Nasrul Hamid added.

As part of the endeavor, the energy ministry announced discovery of new oil
and gas reserves in Sylhet, with potential oil reserves of 8-10 million
barrels and gas reserves of around 200-300 billion cubic feet.

"A total of 35 barrels of oil will be extracted from there per hour. As such,
it is possible to extract 500-600 barrels of oil per day," Nasrul Hamid said
at a press briefing earlier.

According to JGTDSL official, the JGTDSL set up 50000 gas prepaid metres
(Type-A 10,760 and Type-B 39,240 gas prepaid metres) at its consumers' yards.

The state-run gas company also commissioned 48,583 gas prepaid metres after
successful installation, as it is a service-oriented government organization,
and committed to providing the best service to its consumers.

Earlier, the JGTDSL conducted a survey at 63,000 gas stoves through its
Engineering Procurement & Construction (EPC) contactors.

It has completed civil and electric works of the data centre and data
recovery centre. The total progress of the data centre and data recovery
centre and its related works rose to 95 percent.

Besides, online metre recharge system on 'Upay' MFS platform was commissioned
from July 17, 2023 through pause and card system after completion of data
centre configuration and prepaid metering software.

The government has implemented the project aimed at building awareness of
consumers about gas usage, capacity building of the management along with
reducing monitoring cost.

The consortium of Zenner Metering Technology (Shanghai) Ltd and Hexing
Electrical Co., Ltd, China are implementing the project of prepaid metre and
data centre and data recovery centre installation as EPC contactors after
signing an agreement on 25, 09, 2022.