The government is committed to providing ‘partial gas’ to all sectors. What this means in practice is that the domestic consumer — the vote bank — will in all likelihood be prioritised over industry, with an inevitable dent being made in productivity. The centre does not have any spare funding for provincial gas schemes and the minister was critical of a previous policy of gasification in the villages. The Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project remains ‘under discussion’ and a meeting is to be had with the Iranian energy minister — but even if the project is completed with all speed, it will be December 2014 before any gas flows. There is heavy diplomatic pressure from the Americans not to go ahead with the IP project and Pakistan could be the subject of sanctions if it does eventually go ahead, a move that will do nothing to improve Pakistan-US relations. Imported LNG will be here in time for next winter, but the short-term outlook is exceedingly bleak. The crises in the energy sector are all interconnected and there is no ‘single button’ solution. There are chilly times ahead for all.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2013.
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