‘LPG not to remain cheap fuel’

LAHORE: Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will no longer remain a cheap fuel for low-income citizens because of petroleum development levy (PDL), an official said on Tuesday.
LPG Association of Pakistan (LPGAP) Chairman Farooq Iftikhar said that the levy PDL by the government will further erode buying power of the consumers and hit them hard.
Local producers will feel the pinch, as they instead of absorbing PDL passed on the same to the marketing companies. Importers and distributors are having a field day in light of the government bias towards local LPG marketing companies, he added.
MP&NR fails to check substandard LPG imports at the cost of local production, as local producers totally ignore signature bonus collected by them from allottees from calculation while announcing the producer price.
A higher producer price makes LPG more costly and this is evident from the fall in its consumption in October, he said, adding that low sales are a direct result of LPG losing its competitiveness to CNG and other fuels.