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Friday March 29, 2024

Surge in theft: SNGPL faces Rs22 bn loss

PAC told 16 km illegal gas pipeline laid in KP; 7pc line losses in Punjab, 4pc in KP; Karak tops the list with 1.7pc losses

By Asim Yasin
May 22, 2015
ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was on Thursday told that the financial losses of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) had crossed over Rs22 billion.
It also came to know that the Workers Welfare Board had spent Rs20 million on a function at Gawadar on May Day which was attended by former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and the details of expenditure was not provided to the audit officials.
Syed Naveed Qamar chaired the committee meeting in the absence of Syed Khursheed Shah.The meeting examined the audit paras related to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and Ministry of Human Resources Development for the financial year 2010-11.
The SNGPL managing director told the committee that the company line losses had reach 11 percent due to which financial losses had crossed over Rs22 billion.The committee was also told that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had fixed lines losses at 4 percent.
To a query, the SNGPL officials told the committee that line losses were around 7 percent in Punjab and 4 percent in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa while Karak was on the top of list where 1.7 percent gas losses were recorded.
He told the committee that the gas pipeline length was over one lakh kilometer through which 1350 cubic feet of gas was being provided. “The electronic metering and GPRS system was installed on the lines but the company line losses reached 11 percent and suffered a financial loss of Rs22 billion,” he told the committee.
The PAC was informed that an illegal 16 km gas pipeline was laid in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa but the company failed to remove the illegal gas connections. The audit officials told the committee that many illegal gas pipelines had been laid in Kohat.
The MD SNGPL said the company could not reduce the illegal gas connections and line gas losses in Karak and adjacent areas due to law and order situation. He said the company would need Rs8 billion to regularize gas connections in Karak.
The officials of the SNGPL replied that the issue was being discussed with the provincial government.Examining another audit para, the audit officials told the committee that SNGPL had suffered a financial loss of Rs2.86 billion in 2010-11.
Committee member Shafqat Mehmood observed that people were suffering due to the company’s inefficiency and now cess tax had been imposed.The audit officials told the committee that the Workers Welfare Board had spent Rs20 million on a function at Gawadar but did not provide details of expenditure. The committee expressed its annoyance and directed inquiry to fix the responsibility.
The audit officials told the committee that Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources had spent Rs2 million on the deployed rangers for the security of their installations but did not provide the invoice of payments.The committee directed the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural resources to inquire into non-provision of payment receipts to the audit officials and fix the responsibility.
Examining another audit para, the audit officials told the committee that Sindh Workers Welfare Board Karachi had constructed 1,000 residential flats for the laborers with Rs331.6 million and these flats were used for keeping the flood victims of 2008 but for the last six years they had failed to evict the affected people.
They told the committee that even the Sindh High Court had also ordered the vacation of flats but the orders were yet to be implemented.The PAC directed the Ministry of Human Resource Development to vacate the flats and hand them over to the laborers.
Another Audit report highlighted that a special secretary of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources during the tenure of the government visited Doha, Dubai, London and Paris without approval of the prime minister and an amount of Rs1 million was claimed as TA/DA, which was paid to him.
The audit office termed it irregularity and directed the Ministry of Petroleum for an ex-post facto approval of the prime minister.The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources in its reply stated that the former special secretary Ministry of Petroleum had informed the ministry that in view of the importance of the project, a system was evolved with the approval of Finance Division to undertake such visits with the approval of minister in charge.