Islamabad : The ever increasing Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices may lead the country to an ecological disaster as more and more people resort to using wood as a fuel, especially for people deprived of piped gas supply, due to this factor, stakeholders said on Tuesday.
A presentation was prepared by Pakistan LPG Marketers Association (PLPGMA) and has been sent to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). It has been explained the impact of the higher taxation on consumers. The stakeholders urged the government to resume Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL) LPG plant, which has not been functioning for several years, to meet the domestic gas demand.
According to the presentation, rampant felling of trees was observed not only in Balochistan but also in Murree, Galiyat, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and even in Islamabad. The informed the authorities that the LPG policy by the government of has linked the price of LPG with the contract price and on top of it charging 17 per cent GST and Rs4,669 per ton petroleum development levy (PDL), which has made this product inaccessible for the poor citizens of Pakistan, according to the industry.
The industry’s representation claims that on about 1.4 million tons of LPG consumption, the PDL recovered is just Rs6.5 billion. This amount can be easily adjusted in 21 billion litres of petroleum products consumed annually all over Pakistan. These products’ higher consumption is within relatively better placed economic classes. This shift can create fiscal space that would allow cheaper cooking fuel for the marginalized and poorly-served areas.
PG which is considered an environment-friendly fuel for the areas where piped gas is too expensive to deliver has less than one per cent contribution in the energy mix. The fuel needs to be actively encouraged but is being neglected by the policymakers to promote this fuel as an alternate to petrol and natural gas by withdrawing the GST and PDL to make this fuel affordable for the poor masses, the industry said.