APCNGA demands reduction in gas price for CNG sector’s survival

Islamabad: To save natural gas sector from collapse there is need of difference in prices of petrol and CNG. The price of gas should have been reduced after decreasing the price of petrol to keep the troubled business of CNG viable as both the fuels are linked, said Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha, Central Chairman APCNGA.

He said that CNG sector is crumbling due to costly natural gas, unbearable burden of taxes, and indifference of the government which will leave thousands of dealers bankrupt, around four hundred thousand people unemployed while an investment of Rs400 billion will go down the drain.

Ghiyas Paracha said that there are some five hundred thousand vehicles in the country, which cannot be run on the petrol, which will be halted resulting in a nightmare for many. He said that some favourite sectors are addicted to subsidies since long while the burden of their subsidies is shifted to the CNG sector, which is unjustified.

Now the CNG sector is unable to bear the burden of blue-eyed sectors, therefore the government should reduce subsidies to make natural gas economical for the CNG sector, he demanded.

He said that CNG stations in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan are using natural gas for whom gas tariff should be reduced, taxation should be relaxed and GIDC should be abolished so that they remain viable.

He lamented that government continue to support influential sectors and business mafia but it has always ignored the CNG sector and if the situation was not improved the leaders of the CNG sectors will be unable to stop dealers and workers from protests, he warned.