Natural gas crisis worsens in Karachi

CNG outage adds to the misery of the city's people, as public transport is not available

KARACHI: With the advent of winter, the natural gas crisis has worsened in Karachi, with industrialists saying industrial activities may be brought to a halt due to the shortage of gas. Industries located in the SITE Area, North Karachi Industrial Area, SITE Super Highway and Korangi are severely affected by the gas shortage.

Meanwhile, the CNG sector has also been hit by the crisis and CNG stations were ordered to remain closed for 66 consecutive hours, from Tuesday 2pm till Friday (tomorrow) 8am. The CNG outage has added to the misery of the city's people, as public transport is not available and rickshaw and taxi drivers have considerably increased their fares.

Despite this, the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has failed to explain the reasons behind the severe gas crisis. SSGC has, however, issued a notice stating that two new gas pipelines will be operational in the start of 2020, which will be helpful in reducing the shortfall of the natural gas in Sindh, especially in Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2019.