Members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry have rejected the recent news by Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet to increase gas tariffs and schedule gas supply cuts for industry and the CNG sector.
KCCI President Mr Muhammad Saeed Shafiq, Senior VP Mr Talat Mahmood, VP Mr Junaid Esmail Makda, chairman of Public Sector Utilities, Power & Gas Sub committee Dr Qazi Ahmed Kamal said in the joint statement that the decision would harm the economy of Sindh.
They warned that the situation arising out of gas outages will lead to disruption in the delivery of export orders, flight of capital, labour layoffs and decline in the revenue of the government.
They said that on one side government is contemplating to increase targets for nominal growth and on the other side its harsh decisions to increase utility tariffs and gas and power outages are posing severe threats for achieving the said target. At present, country is going through a very serious economic crisis in terms of escalating cost of production due to continuous rise in the rates of the utilities.
They rejected this plan in absolute terms and stressed that under article 158 of the constitution of Pakistan, the issue of the availability and use of gas has been specifically settled once and for all and any changes in it can only be done through the legal process of National Assembly acceptance of the same.
The matter is under the court and sub judice at this point of time. Not only is that but there also an implementation request at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Any action contrary to the status quo before the judgment of the Supreme Court will tantamount to a contempt of court proceeding.
They stated that the KCCI would not accept any holidays of gas supplies to its affiliated 5 industrial zones and industries thereof along with CNG stations in Karachi. They focused that in a total national output of 3800 MMCFD approx. Sindh and Balochistan are consuming only 37% approx i.e. 1200 MMCFD. Today even out of this 37% 1200 MMCFD we are getting 25% less. Whereas shortage in SNGPL is 15%. KCCI is quite interested to know that when our local province SSGC supply is around 1105 MMCFD and that of SNGPL is 1800 where the rest of the odd 900 MMCFD does goes?
(Sourced from www.thenews.com.pk)
