Opposition senators walk out over LNG price
Minister says price to be disclosed only after signing contract
Minister says price to be disclosed only after signing contract. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
Opposition senators on Tuesday staged a walkout from the proceedings of the upper house of parliament in protest against government’s refusal to disclose the price of Liquefied Natural Gas imported from Qatar.
Pakistan has received more than a dozen shipments of the chilled gas, but the administration declined the opposition’s request to reveal how much it cost.
Government comes under fire over LNG purchase at ‘high prices’
“We are not satisfied ... the [petroleum] minister did not give [us any] information about the price,” Awami National Party Senator Ilyas Bilour said before he led the walkout of the opposition members.
Bilour expressed surprise over the decision to withhold the price of LNG when 14 consignments have already been received.
“I assure [the house] that Pakistan will have the cheapest LNG,” Petroleum & Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said earlier, “but I can deliver the information [about its price] only when the contract is signed.” This did not sit well with the opposition, so they walked out of the Senate.
Second LNG terminal project in jeopardy
Abbasi claimed to have addressed every single question on the issue at every forum, including the Senate and the National Assembly, and “yet the senators are unhappy”.
He said LNG was the cheapest fuel and the country would save $600 million (approximately Rs63.26 billion) every year. “We can increase it to $1 billion (approximately Rs105.43 billion).”
Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani asked the minister to submit in the house the price of the 14 LNG shipments received so far to “make your and my life easier”. The minister agreed.
LNG pipeline, terminal: Govt to decide on Chinese firm’s bid in a month
Afghan refugees
More than 3.9 million Afghan refugees have voluntarily repatriated since June 2002, States and Frontier Regions Minister Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch informed the house during question hour. “This year 55,604 individuals have been repatriated until October 15.”
To a query, he said the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan was 1.54 million, along with an estimated one million who were undocumented. “The number of refugees in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is 960,849, Balochistan 300,694, Punjab 172,489, Sindh 63,078, Islamabad 34,537 and Kashmir 3,736.”
Tribal regions
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif informed the house through a written reply that 89 per cent of North Waziristan and 87 per cent of Khyber Agency had been cleared of militants in the Zarb-e-Azb military operation, in which 359 soldiers lost their lives.
OGRA close to determining LNG price
Responding to a question, he said 515 industrial units had been closed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in the past decade because of poor law and order, rendering 3,320 employees jobless.
He also said the government had announced incentives for promotion of investment and had declared Fata a tax-free zone. “Moreover, 400 small- and medium-sized enterprises have been rehabilitated and upgraded among other initiatives.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2015.
Opposition senators on Tuesday staged a walkout from the proceedings of the upper house of parliament in protest against government’s refusal to disclose the price of Liquefied Natural Gas imported from Qatar.
Pakistan has received more than a dozen shipments of the chilled gas, but the administration declined the opposition’s request to reveal how much it cost.
Government comes under fire over LNG purchase at ‘high prices’
“We are not satisfied ... the [petroleum] minister did not give [us any] information about the price,” Awami National Party Senator Ilyas Bilour said before he led the walkout of the opposition members.
Bilour expressed surprise over the decision to withhold the price of LNG when 14 consignments have already been received.
“I assure [the house] that Pakistan will have the cheapest LNG,” Petroleum & Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said earlier, “but I can deliver the information [about its price] only when the contract is signed.” This did not sit well with the opposition, so they walked out of the Senate.
Second LNG terminal project in jeopardy
Abbasi claimed to have addressed every single question on the issue at every forum, including the Senate and the National Assembly, and “yet the senators are unhappy”.
He said LNG was the cheapest fuel and the country would save $600 million (approximately Rs63.26 billion) every year. “We can increase it to $1 billion (approximately Rs105.43 billion).”
Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani asked the minister to submit in the house the price of the 14 LNG shipments received so far to “make your and my life easier”. The minister agreed.
LNG pipeline, terminal: Govt to decide on Chinese firm’s bid in a month
Afghan refugees
More than 3.9 million Afghan refugees have voluntarily repatriated since June 2002, States and Frontier Regions Minister Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch informed the house during question hour. “This year 55,604 individuals have been repatriated until October 15.”
To a query, he said the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan was 1.54 million, along with an estimated one million who were undocumented. “The number of refugees in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is 960,849, Balochistan 300,694, Punjab 172,489, Sindh 63,078, Islamabad 34,537 and Kashmir 3,736.”
Tribal regions
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif informed the house through a written reply that 89 per cent of North Waziristan and 87 per cent of Khyber Agency had been cleared of militants in the Zarb-e-Azb military operation, in which 359 soldiers lost their lives.
OGRA close to determining LNG price
Responding to a question, he said 515 industrial units had been closed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in the past decade because of poor law and order, rendering 3,320 employees jobless.
He also said the government had announced incentives for promotion of investment and had declared Fata a tax-free zone. “Moreover, 400 small- and medium-sized enterprises have been rehabilitated and upgraded among other initiatives.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2015.