Sends a summary for approval of Council of Common Interests. CREATIVE COMMONS
The ministry revealed this in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources held at the Parliament House on Tuesday and chaired by Senator Mir Israrullah Khan Zehri.
The ministry has prepared the summary despite the fact that there is no gas for many existing consumers in the winter season.
Zehri had to pacify members of the committee at the start of deliberations due to the absence of the petroleum secretary. They also regretted the delay in gas connections for new development schemes.
Officials of the petroleum ministry responded that the prime minister had imposed a ban on all new schemes and both gas utilities were not undertaking any new project. The restrictions were put in place in the face of acute gas shortage in the country.
They said the summary on new schemes worth around Rs5.6 billion had been sent to the CCI, which included the development schemes proposed by Maulana Fazlur Rehman of JUI-F.
The CCI is a constitutional body headed by the prime minister and chief ministers of the four provinces are its members. Senator Baz Muhammad Khan asked the committee chairman to include the schemes proposed by him in the summary.
However, Senator Mohsin Aziz criticised the response of the government, saying the fate of the summary was still uncertain.
“This is because nobody knows when the next CCI meeting will be held,” he said, adding, “the CCI should meet after every three months but not a single meeting has been held for the past one year.”
The senators also discussed the employment opportunities for locals in exploration and production companies working in the oil and gas producing districts.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 27th, 2016.
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