A senior government official appointed to lead the Modernisation and Expansion of Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) project (ERL UNit-2) has sought to be relieved of her responsibilities, citing personal and family commitments, raising fresh questions over the management of the long-delayed refinery expansion initiative.
Joint Secretary Asma Ara Begum, who took charge as project director (PD) in September, submitted a formal request to the Secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division recently through the chairman of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), seeking release from the assignment.
In her letter, she said her present family circumstances were making it increasingly difficult to devote the time and attention required to oversee a project of such scale and technical complexity.
Begum was appointed project director through a Ministry of Public Administration order dated 2 September 2026 and joined BPC on deputation on 7 September.
She described the refinery expansion as a national priority and said she had a strong professional attachment to the initiative, having previously worked on preparing its Development Project Proposal (DPP), arranging financing from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and coordinating implementation activities at the Energy and Mineral Resources Division.
The project had remained stalled for years despite the completion of a feasibility study in 2009. It subsequently received conditional approval from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in December 2025, followed by an administrative order on 10 February 2026.
Begum said she had made sincere efforts to advance the project since assuming responsibility and regarded its successful completion as a major professional ambition.
However, she said her two sons, one attending college and the other studying in Class Eight, were at critical stages of their education and personal development and required her direct supervision and support.
She urged the authorities to consider her circumstances sympathetically and take the necessary steps through the Ministry of Public Administration to release her from the assignment.
Disagreements over project management
Her request comes amid reported differences over the project’s management and implementation arrangements.
A BPC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the project director had insisted on operating the project office from Dhaka, although the ERL board had decided that the technically complex initiative should be managed through a Chattogram-based office.
The official said the ERL board had appointed 22 officials to support the project’s implementation and ensure smooth operations.
Another official alleged that disagreements between the project director and other officials had affected progress, including the appointment of a project management consultant (PMC), despite five firms having been shortlisted.
The consultancy selection process has also faced fresh uncertainty.
In a letter to the BPC chairman dated 19 October, the Energy and Mineral Resources Division instructed the corporation to invite fresh expressions of interest in accordance with the Public Procurement Rules (PPR), 2025, and review the consultant’s terms of reference.
The previous invitation for consultancy services covering the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works closed on 20 July, attracting 23 expressions of interest. Five firms were shortlisted, with the list submitted for final approval on 20 October.
A long-delayed refinery expansion
Established in Patenga, Chattogram, in 1968, Eastern Refinery Limited is Bangladesh’s only state-owned oil refinery, with an annual crude processing capacity of 1.5 million tonnes.
The country’s annual demand for petroleum products is around 7.2 million tonnes, leaving it heavily dependent on imports of refined fuels and putting additional pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
BPC estimates that increasing domestic refining capacity to 4.5 million tonnes annually could save approximately $473 million, equivalent to Tk5,788 crore, each year.
The ERL-2 project was initially taken up in 2012 to add another three million tonnes of annual refining capacity. A Tk13,000 crore investment plan was initiated in 2013, but disagreements and delays involving design, consultancy, financing and implementation prevented progress.
BPC later considered financing the project independently, pushing the estimated cost to Tk23,000 crore in 2022.
In 2024, S Alam Group proposed building the refinery for Tk25,000 crore, and the project received approval on 9 July that year. However, it was suspended in August following the mass uprising that led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.
The interim government subsequently revived the initiative. A revised proposal, reducing the estimated cost from Tk35,465 crore to Tk31,000 crore, was submitted to the Planning Commission.
ECNEC conditionally approved the proposal on 23 December 2025, directing a review of engineering, design, construction supervision, commissioning and associated infrastructure costs.
The government has also approved a $1.004 billion loan from the Islamic Development Bank to finance the project. The proposed financing comprises $520.6 million in the first phase and $483 million in the second, alongside a technical assistance grant.
Once completed, the second refinery is expected to increase Bangladesh’s total annual refining capacity to 4.5 million tonnes and produce Euro-5-standard fuels, helping reduce dependence on imported refined petroleum products.