Nasrul Hamid wants filling stations to get facelift, upgraded facilities

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has asked his ministry officials to ensure more attractive filling stations, offering all modern facilities.

"You must ensure the filling stations are built with an attractive look by ensuring standard facilities. There must be clean and adequate wash blocks," he said, at a review meeting at the energy division on a project undertaken by the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to build GPS location-based filling stations.

He also directed the officials to expedite the implementation of the project and use modern technologies in strengthening the BPC's petroleum fuel sales network under a strong monitoring system.

According to the officials, the energy division took up the project to build a new type of filling station on the country's highways, where modern amenities for drivers and passengers such as separate dormitories for men and women, washrooms, ATM booths, cafeteria, parking area, and a prayer room would be accommodated.

Motorists and commuters would even use the dormitories at night for a small fee, the official said.

At present, officials said, there are 2,297 refuelling stations across the country. However, most of them lack even basic facilities like washrooms for drivers and passengers.

Also at today's meeting, Nasrul Hamid said the monitoring activities have to be strengthened to check adulteration in petroleum sold to the public.

Appreciating the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) for updating the data on the country's filling stations, he said the GPS locations of the refuelling stations have to be integrated with the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) map of the organisation.

Senior Secretary of the Energy Division Mahbub Hossain, BPC chairman ABM Azad, and Padma Oil Company's managing director Md Abu Saleh Ikbal and other top officials were present at the meeting.