Dispute: Govt, CNG sector in row over GIDC settlement

Petroleum minister says CNG stations owe Rs40 billion

ISLAMABAD: The government and compressed natural gas (CNG) station owners are at loggerheads over the payment of gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC).

Differences between them surfaced on Wednesday in a meeting of the Senate Special Committee held to review the implementation of GIDC Bill 2015.

Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the parliamentary panel that the government was engaged in negotiations with the CNG filling station operators in a bid to settle the outstanding GIDC.



“The government could not waive any tax on its own as any settlement of the outstanding GIDC could only be made in parliament in a constitutional manner,” he emphasised.

He said CNG stations had collected the GIDC in line with the tariff notified by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), but did not deposit it in government coffers.

Around Rs40 billion including the late payment surcharge was yet to be paid by the CNG industry, he revealed.

Representatives of the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA), led by Central Chairman Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha, told the special committee that they had held meetings with officials of the ministries of petroleum and finance and offered them Rs9 billion to settle the outstanding GIDC.

However, they claimed, the government first asked them to deposit Rs16 billion and later reduced the amount to Rs13 billion. “We offered them Rs10 billion as settlement.”

Officials of the petroleum ministry rejected the association’s claims.

Senator Talha Mahmood stressed that there should be no settlement with those who collected the GIDC but did not deposit in the government exchequer.

He said he had received reports that the CNG association had illegally collected Rs200,000 to Rs400,000 from each of its member for settlement of the outstanding GIDC.

He suggested that the committee should keep itself away from playing any role in the settlement as billions of rupees were involved in the matter, especially after the alleged reports.

Committee Chairman Ilyas Bilour and Senator Mohsin Aziz endorsed Mahmood’s views. This angered the CNG association’s representatives, who rejected the allegation and left the meeting in protest.

The Senate committee also allowed the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources to establish a mechanism for resolving the GIDC collection and payment issues.

The petroleum minister pointed out that his ministry could devise a mechanism to determine which filling station owners had collected the GIDC from consumers but did not deposit it in the national kitty.

In response, Bilour asked the minister to share a draft with the committee members prior to its submission on January 31.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2017.

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