Starved of gas

Natural gas is a vital national resource but comes with a whiff of politics attached

Natural gas is a vital national resource and like just about everything else in the country it comes with a whiff of politics attached. Sindh is the province that produces most of the natural gas for domestic and industrial consumption and it is getting the worst of the deal when it comes to the allocation of the latest round of gas-related projects. To this end the Chief Minister has written to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to complain that the relaxation on the moratorium on the expansion of gas projects has primarily benefited the Punjab to the detriment of all other provinces. The PM has said that there are to be 97 natural gas projects worth Rs37 billion with the creation of a new gas network that was primarily located in Punjab. It is of note that this is unconstitutional. Sindh produces 47 per cent of the natural gas and Punjab just three per cent — and the Constitution, Article 158, is clear in saying that priority has to be accorded to the province in which the wellhead is located.

Sindh, both urban and rural, is crying out for development and a supply of natural gas is crucial to that in a myriad ways. In urban Sindh many thousands of applications for a gas connection are lying dormant, and in rural areas the SSGCL is still struggling to complete the schemes that were started in 2012 before the PML-N government came to power. The provincial government has made payment for a gas supply to nine small industrial estates spread around the province — yet a supply continues to be refused.

It is difficult, given the scale of discongruity between natural gas supplies in the two provinces, to escape the conclusion that one is being favoured over the other. Not only favoured but actively discriminated against. This does nothing whatsoever for interprovincial trust and harmony and is driving a coach and horses through the constitution. Voices raised against the unequal distribution of natural resources are also heard from Balochistan, and are equally justified. With an election on the horizon and the PML-N already gearing up, fostering a sense of victimhood in Sindh is no way to win hearts and minds — or promote our development as a nation.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2017.

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