Industry asks govt to accelerate gas import

Expresses concern over move to renegotiate gas price with Iran.

FAISALABAD: The business community has said three-day gas outages in winter have dented the industry’s efficiency and urged the government to fast track work on Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project to minimise energy shortages.

They expressed concern over the government’s decision to renegotiate the agreed gas price with Tehran, which may delay gas flow expected in 2014. After the completion of the pipeline project, they hoped gas load-shedding would come to an end.

Image Garments Industry Chief Executive Officer Qamar Aftab told The Express Tribune that the shortage of gas in Punjab had worsened, forcing the industrialists to consider shifting their business to other provinces where the gas crisis was not so severe.

A number of industries used gas as basic raw material, but its acute shortage had disrupted work at these units, he said, adding the number of unemployed people would increase if the issue was not resolved. Officials of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited said if the pipeline project was completed, then Pakistan would have sufficient gas and its shortage would be overcome. But the government has clogged the process of implementing the project.

Initially, 750 million cubic feet per day of gas would be supplied through the pipeline, which would be enhanced to one billion cubic feet, which was almost 50% of the current gas shortage, they said.

Shahzad Saddique Limited Chief Executive Officer Shahzad Saddique said work on this project had been delayed for unknown reasons.

Iran had already completed its part of the pipeline and if Pakistan had shown some interest, its portion of the pipeline would have been completed much earlier, he added.

Tauseef Enterprises CEO Salamat Ali said the delay in the project sent a very serious indication to the industries, which needed to be addressed by speeding up work on the pipeline. “If the government did not tackle the energy crisis, investments and industrial plants will shift to Bangladesh,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th,  2011.