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‘Domestic, commercial gas appliances should be standardised’

Staff Report

LAHORE: The government should ensure rational use of precious natural gas and prevent its wastage by standardizing domestic and commercial gas appliances instead of squeezing the supplies of CNG in industrial sectors.

Chairman All Pakistan CNG Association, Ghayas Abdullah Paracha stated this in his presentation on problems faced by CNG stations to the Lahore Economic Journalists Association.

Paracha said the CNG was introduced under CNG policy of 1994 as an environmental friendly fuel. He said the policy promised to maintain the difference between the petrol and CNG prices to encourage the use of this fuel. This basic principal, he added, has been flouted and presently CNG is only 40 percent cheaper than petrol against over 50 percent financial advantage over petrol in 1994.

He said squeezing CNG gas supplies does not resolve the problem but burdens 2.5 million middle-class consumers. He said cutting industrial supplies has an adverse impact on productivity and employment. The government, he added should put a squeeze on domestic consumption. The substandard gas appliances should be banned which would save almost 40 percent of gas that is wasted. Moreover, the CNG stations are ready to operate for 12 hours a day if the gas distribution companies assure uninterrupted supplies during the period when gas consumption is generally lowest during winter days.

He said the CNG gas tariff was initially fixed at par with the industrial tariff. He said now it has been raised to Rs 427.15 per mm BTU against Rs 339.43 per mm BTU fixed for the industry. He said the CNG tariff is even higher than commercial gas tariff of Rs 393.33 mm BTU which is not just at all as commercial users are hotels, restaurants, bakeries etc that can afford higher tariff. Similarly, he added the CNG electricity tariff has been increased in recent years to an extent that it is higher than the industrial electricity tariff. These measures, he added have increased the CNG charges for the consumers.

He added that mushroom growth of CNG stations has led to lopsided availability to the CNG run vehicle owners. He said currently 3000 CNG stations are operative in the country in which numerous operate in close clusters in many localities. He said the government has rightly slapped ban on setting up new CNG stations but it should atleast allow relocation of some stations where the concentration is high to places where there is scarcity of CNG stations so that people of all regions are uniformly served.

He asked the government to announce a clear and elaborate ten year CNG policy. He demanded the government should cut the gas supplies to any CNG station found involved in gas theft instead of resuming gas supplies after penalizing them. He said those involved in gas theft are selling gas at much lower rates to eliminate their competitors in regions where there are more gas stations than the requirement. He also appealed the federal board of revenue to stop the menace of double taxation on this industry that pays 4 percent income tax on its gas bills as final tax liability but is subjected to 10 percent advance tax on electricity bills. He demanded refund of this tax.

He claimed that 2.5 million CNG fitted vehicles plying on roads in Pakistan have helped reduce pollution in the big cities of the country. He said that CNG fitted vehicles use only 6 percent of the total gas consumed in the country that helps the nation save annually $1.6 million in foreign exchange on petroleum imports.

He said power sector consumes 33.5 percent of the total natural gas consumed in Pakistan, Industry consumes 23.8 percent, domestic consumers 18.10 percent, Fertilizer 15.60 percent CNG 5.40 percent and commercial outlets 2.7 percent. He said the domestic consumption more than doubles to over 40 percent in winter months due to use of geysers and room heaters.

He expressed hope that the government would not cut the gas supplies to CNG stations during winter and warned that if this step was taken the CNG stations would be closed indefinitely.

President LEJA Mansoor Ahmad, Vice President Itrat Bashir, General Secretary Muhammad Sudhir Chaudhry and Treasurar Imran Adnan were also present on the occasion.

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