A relief: OGRA cuts CNG prices

SC terms 9% additional GST on gas illegal.

KARACHI:

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has announced a cut in prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) by Rs1.23 per kilogramme (kg) following a decision by the Supreme Court (SC) to reduce General Sales Tax (GST).

The SC had termed the additional 9% GST on CNG by the federal government illegal and ordered Its removal to provide relief to the consumers.

According to a notification issued by Ogra, the price of CNG for consumers in region-1 has been slashed by Rs1.23 per kg, in region-2 by Rs0.61. Region-1 includes Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and the Potohar region (Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Gujar Khan), while Sindh and Punjab excluding the Potohar region form region-2.

The new price of CNG has been set at Rs74.25 in region-1 and Rs66.14 per kg in region-2, compared with the previous price of Rs75.48 and Rs 66.75 per kg respectively. The GST has been slashed from 26% to 17%.

APCNGA hails move

Meanwhile, the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) has hailed the move. APCNGA Chairman Ghyas Paracha said that discrimination regarding GST imposition on CNG has ended, and asked the government to also restore gas supply in Punjab where employment of millions of people was at stake.

Paracha said that the government should provide gas to the CNG stations at day time when there is no gas supply constraint after cooking time. He said that it was discrimination by the government to provide gas to the textile industry, which had a nine-month supply agreement, but not to the CNG industry which had a 12-month one.

REVISED PRICES per kg

Region-1     Rs74.25

Region-2     Rs66.14

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2013.

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