Govt will not recover GIDC for the period industry got stay orders. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: The oil and gas regulator has been unfair to the compressed natural gas (CNG) sector, said Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in a meeting of a special Senate committee constituted to monitor the implementation of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) bill 2015.
The committee, chaired by Senator Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, was briefed by representatives of various sectors including CNG, fertiliser and other industries regarding their reservations about the GIDC.
“Our prices have been capped by Ogra since November 2012, but the cost has gone up significantly,” said the CNG sector representative, Junaid Ismail. “Electricity rates have been revised upwards four times since 2012, minimum labour wages were Rs8,000 in 2013 and they are now at Rs13,000 to Rs15,000 in different provinces,” he said.
All Pakistan CNG Association Chairman Ghiyas Paracha said the petroleum ministry and Ogra had not only lost their case in the Supreme Court but the review petition was also turned down by the apex court.
“Ogra and the petroleum ministry have been saying that we can pass on the GIDC to consumers, but then it will push CNG rates to Rs90 per kg,” he said.
In response, the petroleum minister, while expressing his sympathies, said the CNG sector had a pending amount of Rs40 billion that they had not paid since 2012.
Eventually, the committee and the CNG association agreed that GIDC would not be charged for the period that they had obtained stay orders from the court, while those stations who had paid the cess could claim its return.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2015.
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