The industrial community is confused over the “unnecessary differences” between the federal and provincial governments over the issue of gas shortage, said Businessmen Group President Zubair Motiwala.
Referring to a statement made by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar at a news conference, industrialists said it was a matter of concern that the quantum of gas explored from Sindh was not being provided to industries of Karachi.
Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President M Shariq Vohra pointed out that the major export-oriented sectors were questioning the increase in tariff from Rs786 to Rs930 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) as there was no gas.
“At least, the industrialists should be compensated in terms of time, which was wasted due to unavailability of gas,” he added.
“We, after long debates, had an agreement with the energy ministry in which we agreed to an increase in gas tariff from Rs786 to Rs930 per mmbtu as the differential between RLNG and indigenous gas but this agreement was reached when the government committed that gas would be provided to industries at optimum pressure and there would be no holidays,” Motiwala stated.
“And now they announce that they have suspended gas supply to the captive power plants, which we fail to understand as the ‘zero-rated sectors’ had agreed to pay the entire difference,” he said, adding that for the past 15 days when the government claimed that they were supplying more than 200 mmcfd of regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG), the shortage had persisted.
The business community, during a meeting with the government, agreed on certain parameters and also agreed to pay penalty for the same and then if the commitments were not being fulfilled again, it was very disturbing for the entire industry, said the KCCI president.
SITE Association of Industry Senior Vice President Riazuddin urged the federal government and the Ministry of Petroleum to make arrangements to provide gas to the industries of Sindh, adding that the federal government had assured the industrial sector of uninterrupted gas supply at the enhanced rate of Rs930.
He said the government was supposed to procure additional RLNG for two existing terminals to provide 1,250-1,300 mmcfd to the industry during winter.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2020.
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