Proposals for settling GIDC issues underway

ISLAMABAD: Ministry of petroleum and natural resources is in the process to prepare recommendations for settling the issues related to Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) with different entities, sources said on Monday.

“The ministry has been given the task, by a special committee of the Senate, to constitute an internal committee for preparing a draft mechanism to settle the GIDC collection and payment issues,” they added.

“Accordingly, the ministry was preparing a draft mechanism to identify the entities, which had collected the GIDC from their consumers but did not deposit in the national kitty.” They added the formula would also help categorize and identify the entities in CNG, Captive Power Plants (CPPs) and industrial sectors, which paid the GIDC to the government after collecting it and those which submitted it without collecting.

 “The ministry will submit the draft before the Senate special committee and discuss the implementation of report on GIDC-2015, on January 31 in consultation with the committee members,” the sources told the newswire.

It must be noted here the body, in its previous meetings, had discussed the bill
should be treated sector wise stating that all sectors were ready to pay but not retrospectively.

The sources added that while, the ministry took the stance the GIDC Act 2015, as passed by the parliament, provided the cess collected by the company from gas consumers under the GIDC Act 2011 and GIDC Ordinance 2014 would be valid under the provisions of the GIDC Act 2015.

“Therefore, the question of not paying the cess retrospectively does not arise.” The sources held the CNG stations had collected the GIDC according to the tariff notified by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), but did not transfer it to the government, adding, around Rs40 billion including the Late Payment Surcharge (LPS) were pending against the CNG sector.

“The government is in negotiation with CNG sector to settle outstanding amount on account of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess, but, it cannot waive any tax, on its own, as any settlement regarding recovery of outstanding GIDC can only be made in the parliament in a constitutional manner.”