Non-payment issues: Start paying gas bills in Quetta and K-P, minister says

Alyani to take up matter with provincial chief minister.

ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Oil and Natural Resources Jam Kamal Khan Alyani has disclosed that a majority of domestic consumers of sui gas in Quetta and a few parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) fail to deposit their gas utilisation bills.

Their failure has led to the government facing losses worth millions of rupees, with Alyani adding that the matter would be taken up with the Balochistan chief minister.

“The consumers are of the view that they are not obliged to pay their gas bills because they face interruption in the supply,” said Alyani. “It becomes a political issue whenever the sui gas company disconnects the supply of these defaulters.

In an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune, Alyani, who also hails from Balochistan, said that the domestic consumers in Quetta have flatly refused to pay for their gas consumption. This situation is similar to a few other districts of that province.

“There are also some regions in K-P where gas consumers are not willing to deposit their gas consumption bills without any sound reason.

“As far as Balochistan is concerned, we will soon take up the matter with the provincial chief minister to devise a mechanism for the recovery of our bills and outstanding dues without much botheration to the consumers.”

To meet the gas requirement in Quetta and other places, the ministry has plans to provide relief to the consumers by the end of February this year.  “About 25 to 30 mmcfd gas will be supplied to the consumers regularly from Zargon reservoirs.”

Alyani was also optimistic regarding the work on other projects to supply gas in all those districts of the province where it has not been provided so far.

The minister admitted that the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) have suffered huge financial losses during recent years due to the authorities’ failure to check 11% unaccounted for gas (UFG).

Three to four of the 11% UFG is reported as gas theft throughout the country. Leakage in the gas pipelines has also been cited by the minister as a reason for the UFG.

Talking about the foreign investment in the oil and gas sector, the minister informed that negotiations are in progress with Russia and Kuwait for the up gradation of oil refineries by 2015.

“Most of the national and foreign oil and gas companies who have been awarded about 100 oil and gas exploration licences are not initiating their work,” said Alyani as he highlighted the causes of gas shortages.

Some of those companies who have been allotted oil and gas blocks in K-P and Balochistan are facing security issues, while others have no reasonable grounds for an unabated delay in the execution of their exploration projects.

The federal government has asked the chief secretaries of Balochistan and K-P to ensure the safety and well-being of all the national and international oil and gas exploration companies in their respective provinces.

Alyani concluded by saying that the ministry has asked all the national and foreign companies for an early start to their exploration operation in their allotted blocks.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2014.

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