Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, All Pakistan CNG Association Chairman Ghiyas Paracha expressed doubt over the way prices were being determined by Pakistan State Oil (PSO), which also led to increase in CNG rates.
“In one month, PSO has jacked up the price of petrol by Rs21 per litre, resulting in increase in CNG rates by Rs17 per kg,” he said. In the past two months, the price of CNG has gone up by Rs25 per kg.
He asked the government to either regulate oil prices or deregulate CNG prices, like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and petrol, to create a competitive environment which would provide relief to the people.
Paracha alleged that the OMCs had been making hefty profits after the government allowed them oil price determination on a weekly basis. “The oil price review every week is not acceptable as it is only benefitting the OMCs,” he said.
He claimed CNG was one of the largest tax-paying sectors, but the government treated it in a bad way. According to him, the CNG industry is paying Rs70 million per day on account of gas infrastructure development cess.
“This industry was using 9.1% of gas, but due to load-shedding the consumption has come down to 6.8%.”
Paracha pointed out that gas distribution companies were sending bills on a monthly basis compared to the weekly oil price reviews and said this had created problems for the whole CNG industry.
He announced that if the issues were not resolved the industry’s stakeholders would stage a sit-in in front of the office of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) to press for their demands.
He underscored the need for the billing procedure of gas companies to be accurate and meter reading switched to weekly basis. He also called for reducing the cess rate.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2012.
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