Lights out: Karachiites suffer as stakeholders squabble

Sindh should get the natural gas produced in the province and not liquefied natural gas (LNG) or regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) under Article 158 of the Constitution of Pakistan, said Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab on Thursday.

Wahab was replying to a conversation on Twitter between Federal Power, Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Omar Ayub Khan and former finance minister Miftah Ismail.

"Gas shortage in Karachi is due to government of Sindh not giving Right of Way for a new SSGC line. [We] have been after [the] Sindh government since the last 1.5 years but they have not budged. We are already giving 100 mmcfd RLNG to K-Electric (KE) and need the new line for additional supply," tweeted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's federal minister on Tuesday.

Replying to Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ismail said the federal minister's statement was simply not true. "Where you can give 100 mmcfd of LNG to Karachi, you can [also] give more.... The pipeline you're talking about has nothing to do with LNG for Karachi," said the former finance minister.

Joining in the conversation, the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government's spokesperson Wahab said that he disagreed with both of them. He held mismanagement of the PTI-led federal government responsible for the prevailing gas crisis.

"Sindh should be getting its indigenous gas and not LNG/RLNG as guaranteed under Article 158 of the Constitution. Situation has greatly worsened due to mismanagement that prevails in [the] federal government and our domestic, commercial and industrial consumers suffer," tweeted Wahab.

In recent days, gas shortage has prevailed across Karachi. Despite previous assurances by the power utility company and the federal government, load shedding continues in the city much to the citizen's dismay.

Gas distribution has previously been a point of contention between Sindh and Centre. The Right of Way for a new SSGC line has also been debated before.

With regards to the current wave of load shedding, KE maintains that low supplies of gas pressure has impacted power production and supplies to consumers. Three out of KE's four gas-fired power plants are operating at under capacity due to the low gas pressure. The power utility has called for the provision of required gas quantity at the required gas pressure for increased power production and supply.

Meanwhile, the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has said they already informed KE of low supplies in advance and advised it to adopt alternate solutions like running power plants on coal, furnace oil and/or diesel.

Earlier this year, KE had cited shortage of furnace oil and reduction of RLNG by the SSGC as the reason behind excessive load shedding during June and July. The federal energy ministry had, however, vehemently denied these claims and had also cited the same Article 158 of the Constitution as quoted by Wahab. In its statement, the federal ministry had said that the supply of LNG was available, but on account of Article 158 of the Constitution of Pakistan, only a limited quantity of LNG is being taken by KE.

Subsequent meetings between the power utility company and federal government had concluded with the latter assuring the former of increased gas supply.

"The Province in which a well-head of natural gas is situated shall have precedence over other parts of Pakistan in meeting the requirements from the well-head, subject to the commitments and obligations as on the commencing day," reads Article 158 of the Constitution.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2020.