‘CNG prices in Pakistan highest in region’

Dealers want price cut to match with rates in other countries.

ISLAMABAD: Compressed natural gas (CNG) dealers have claimed that prices of CNG in Pakistan are the highest in the region and made a plea to the government to bring down the prices to match with rates in other countries.

“Prices of CNG in Pakistan should match with rates in other countries, where buying power of people is more or less the same,” said Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha, Chairman of Supreme Council of All Pakistan CNG Association in a statement on Tuesday.

To support his claim, he cited examples. In Thailand, the price of CNG is 76.70% less than the price of petrol. In Bangladesh, CNG is available at a price 68.61% lower than petrol, in Indonesia the price is cheaper by 51.65% compared to petrol and in India the price is at 58.84% of the cost of petrol. In Pakistan, the CNG price is pegged at 60% of petrol rate.

Paracha said many countries including India and Bangladesh did not have any indigenous substitute for gasoline and lacked proper gas infrastructure, but still they sold CNG at a lower price.

He pointed to US and EU countries, which had been promoting consumption of gas to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels due to uncertainty in supply chain, volatility in prices and save foreign exchange.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2012.