Hazara Division: SNGPL stops gas supply to industry, CNG stations

Severe cold brings gas pressure down to zero in main pipelines.

HARIPUR: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has halted gas supply to over 150 industrial units and 120 compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in three districts of Hazara Division, citing a sharp drop in gas pressure in severe cold.

“We have been told that gas supply will remain suspended for 72 hours only as gas pressure has dropped drastically because of cold weather,” an industrialist in the Hattar Industrial Estate told The Express Tribune on Tuesday.

Earlier, he said, the SNGPL, with the support of police, attempted to stop supply on Monday night, but the industrialists resisted, arguing that raw material was being processed in many food and steel manufacturing units.

According to Haripur Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Malik Ashiq, over 120 factories of the Hattar Industrial Estate were without gas, leaving over 30,000 workers, who work on day-to-day basis, idle for three days.

“In the absence of gas for the industrial units, economic activity in the country’s fifth largest industrial zone and the first in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has come to a standstill,” he said.

When approached, the local administration told Ashiq that the delivery of gas has been stopped on the orders of Hazara commissioner.

Admitting that household consumers should be accorded priority in gas distribution, he stressed that the industries did also contribute to running the kitchens of thousands of workers besides paying millions of rupees in taxes.

Ashiq, however, agreed that stopping gas supply to CNG stations made sense, saying motorisits could have an alternative to the CNG in the shape of petrol, but the industrial units, which have already been facing worst power outages, had no other choice to keep their business running.

The SNGPL regional manager for Abbottabad was not available for comments, however, an official, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that main pipelines had been frozen following severe cold, reducing gas pressure to 140 pounds from 450 pounds.

On Monday, he said, the pressure plunged to zero in Abbottabad and Mansehra, affecting household consumers and forcing the gas company to stop gas release into supply lines connected to the industrial units and CNG stations for 48 hours.

“If conditions improve, supply to these units will be restored, but if it remains unchanged, the outage can extend to 72 hours,” he cautioned and said over 150,000 household consumers in the three districts of Haripur, Abbottabad and Mansehra could face further shortages if industries continued to receive gas.

Responding to a question, the official pointed out that the industrialists and CNG station owners were bound under an agreement with the SNGPL that they would not protest against the halt in gas supply following low pressure in winter.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2013.

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