RAHIM YAR KHAN:
The installation of a natural gas pipeline to boost pressure of gas supplied in areas along Rahim Yar Khan Road from Thalli Chowk to Khwaja Fareed Government Postgraduate College is pending for over a year.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Tehsil Muncipal Officer Arshad Warraich said the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines would be allowed to take up installation of the proposed pipeline after it paid the estimated cost of repair works that would be undertaken by the TMA after the pipeline is laid. He said the TMA had on October 20, 2011, sent a letter to the SNGPL asking it to pay Rs1,315,400 as the estimated cost of restoration works. “The SNGPL does not clear its dues in time so we have decided to get the payment in advance,” he said.
The TMA has yet to respond to two requests sent by the SNGPL for issuance of a No Objection Certificate for the project. The first request was sent in January 2011 and the second in August the same year.
SNGPL officials say the letter about advance payment has been forwarded to the regional office in Bahawalpur and to the head office in Lahore. SNGPL deputy chief engineer Mubashar Habib said they were discussing the matter with the TMA. He said the TMA would be requested to let them proceed with the project as dozens of residents of the area were suffering on account of low gas pressures at their homes. He said he had requested the Rahim Yar Khan district coordination officer to intervene and settle the matter without further delay.
DCO Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi told The Tribune he would try to mediate in the matter but added that he could guarantee a settlement. “The district administration does not have the authority to issue the NOC. It’s in the TMA’s jurisdiction,” he said.
Javed Akbar Dhiloon, member of Punjab Assembly from the area, expressed ignorance about the project.
The project to lay a 3.9 kilometre long pipeline along Rahim Yar Khan Road was approved by the SNGPL head office in December 2010. It was initiated in June 2010 to end frequent outages of natural gas in housing colonies the area. Residents of Satellite Town, Baber Colony, Jinnah Park, Muhajir Colony, Shahnawaz Colony, Hasan Colony, Sakhi Sarwar Colony, Hafiz Town, Jeddah Town, Model Town, Trust Colony, New Officers Colony, Businessman Colony and Haji Muhammad Colony would benefit from the project.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2012.
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