The suspension of gas infuriates businesses and sparks criticism from the PTI government

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KARACHI: The country’s supreme trade body on Monday called on the government to immediately deploy aid to industries against the gas suspension that angered companies at what they see as government incompetence and “criminal negligence “.

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) expressed disappointment at the government’s decision to suspend gas supply to non-export oriented industries; “Which will result in losses of billions of rupees”.

“Why no preventive measures have been taken; while everyone in government knew full well that there would be a huge gas shortage during the winter months, ”said Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, chairman of the FPCCI, in a statement. Maggo regretted that only 10 LNG shipments arrive in December 2021 compared to 12 in December 2020.

“The deferred bidding turned out to be extremely costly and resulted in lower bids than required; and, that too, at a very high rate. The FPCCI president said that only 886 MMCFD of LNG will be imported in December 2021 and only 950 MMCFD in January 2022, which is 27% less than the imports of LNG in December 2020 and January 2021, respectively.

“Responsibility and liability rests with the government for criminal negligence for practicing delay and procrastination in issuing LNG cargoes once again,” he added. now.”

Maggo said the FPCCI has repeatedly raised the issue of gas shortages; and, “industries still have to undergo gas suspensions several times a year.” “If the government had come to the FPCCI for a consultative process on the issue, we would have provided them with guidelines for successfully defending the gas crisis in a win-win mechanism. “

The president of the FPCCI asked why the government is not issuing enough LNG import licenses to commercial importers to close the gap? “Instead, it continues to mismanage the gas supply to industries.”

He called for immediate and direct intervention from Prime Minister Imran Khan to save Pakistan’s industrial backbone and proposed that, “although difficult, but the Prime Minister should consider the option of a cash tender. with the help of friendly countries “.

“The FPCCI strongly demands immediate action to restore gas supplies to industries; and take other corrective and compensatory measures to avoid the closure of industrial units and the loss of millions of jobs in non-export oriented industries for the working class of Pakistan, who live on paychecks every month ” , added Maggo.

Meanwhile, the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Monday announced its support for general industries resistance against the suspension of gas supplies. Muhammad Idris, chairman of KCCI, said the suspension of gas supply would not only affect local production, but would also have a severe impact on export-oriented industries, as “the two were linked. to others and it is these general industries that provide the raw material to export outward-oriented industries. ”President KCCI suggested to the Ministry of Energy to design“ some kind of efficient mechanism that ensures the supply of 10% of Additional gas to Karachi industries from Sindh’s indigenous gas resources, which would certainly result in smooth running of general and export-oriented industries throughout the winter season “.

“We believe that if only 100mmcf of extra gas were delivered to Karachi, out of 180mmcfd of gas that was mistakenly given to SNGPL, it would surely normalize things and solve all the problems faced by the business and industry community due to the unavailability of gas, ”Idris said in a statement.

“The government must consider the possibility of returning 100 mmcfd of gas from the natural gas resources of Sindh to the industries of Karachi, which, if done, will fix everything, as the export oriented industries and in general will remain operational. no problem.”

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