Govt to resume supply of natural gas to CNG sector

Businessman says closure of CNG stations resulted in losses of billions of rupees

ISLAMABAD:

The government is aware of the importance of the compressed natural gas (CNG) industry and it will try to immediately resume the supply of natural gas to it, said Federal Minister for Petroleum Hammad Azhar.

While talking to a delegation of All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) on Friday, he said that the government was aware of the problems being faced by the CNG sector and efforts were underway to solve the issues as soon as possible.

Speaking on the occasion, All Pakistan CNG Association Group Leader Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha said that closure of CNG stations resulted in losses of billions of rupees and jeopardised employment of millions of people.

If the CNG sector was allowed to import gas, the government would not have faced heavy losses and owners of CNG stations would not have faced liquidity issues, he added.

According to Paracha, “the closure of CNG stations also hit the employment of hundreds of thousands of people while consumers were deprived of cheap and environment-friendly fuel”

He further said that complete shutdown of the sector led to an increase in petrol consumption, resulting in air pollution and smog.

Paracha was of a view that if only 50 MMCFD of gas was supplied to the CNG sector, the oil import bill would have been reduced by Rs84 billion on an annual basis.

While claiming that the CNG stations of the country were closed for the last three months while gas was supplied to other sectors he demanded justice for the stakeholders of the CNG sector.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2022.

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