Federal Petroleum and Natural Resources Secretary Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhry said on Thursday domestic consumers would not be able to afford Pak-Iran gas project. Briefing National Assembly Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources that met here with Talib Hassan Nakai in the chair, the secretary said the gas from Pakistan-Iran pipelines cost around Rs 8.50 per unit, which could be used for power generation, industries and fertilizers. He stated the government had two options to meet the country’s growing energy needs-either to import or explore new hydrocarbon resources to ensure availability of electricity and gas in the country. He revealed the Pak-Iran project would start supply from 2014, adding if it got late, gas crisis would multiply.
About the LNG project, the secretary said progress was being made and 17 international bidders had shown interest in the supply of energy and gas to Pakistan. The committee was informed that the country was facing gas shortfall of 2.5 billion cubic feet against demand of 6 billion cubic feet. He said if the situation continued to persist, gas load shedding could be increased. The secretary said the SSGC and SNGPL had recovered Rs 4 billion during the last 48 days and disconnected around 370 illegal connections in two months, mainly in Punjab. The secretary said 90 per cent of gas development programmes were being completed under the PM’s schemes while 10 per cent belonged to the SSGC and SNGPL.
The committee took serious notice of the provision of 500 CNG connections despite the ban imposed in 2007. OGDCL MD Asif Sindhu said Rs 600 million had been allocated for development schemes in the next financial year while Rs 310 million had been spent on development schemes in Balochistan last year. The committee also showed concern over constant increase in the prices of petroleum products. The body also recommended that ban on MNAs’ gas development schemes should be lifted to provide the basic facility to their respective areas.
The meeting was attended by Nawab Ali Wassan, Mian Abdul Haq alias Mian Mittha, Khurram Jehangir Wattoo, Mir Ahmadan Khan Bugti, Syed Inayat Ali Shah, Ch Muhammad Barjees Tahir, Mir Muhammad Hanif Abbasi, Begum Shahnaz Sheikh, Abdul Waseem, Syed Haider Ali Shah, Muhammad Usman advocate, Sh Aftab Ahmad, Nazar Muhammad Gondal and Rana Afzaal Hussain.
