‘Timely LNG import could have helped avert gas crisis’

KARACHI: President Korangi Association of Trade and Industry Saleem-uz-Zaman Tuesday said gas crisis could have been averted if the government had taken timely action and imported LNG, as capacity was available at the terminals and in gas transport lines.

Saleem said SAPM Nadeem Babar had promised uninterrupted gas supply to the industry at additional rates. It is pertinent to mention that gas rate for the export industry was Rs786 per MMBTU and after additional charges, it was decided at Rs854 MMBTU but the government asked the industry to pay Rs930 per MMBTU, saying it was done so that we bore the burden of other industries.

He said the industry accepted the government’s offer for timely completion of export orders for the next five months but provision of gas had not yet been ensured. Earlier, Shahzeb Khanzada of Geo News said in his comments that the situation emerging in January 2021 seemingly was the same what the Geo News had repeatedly been pointing out. He said the gas crisis was deepening and the industry had started complaining.

Domestic consumers have already been deprived of gas, he said, adding Karachi’s industrialists had also complained of gas crisis. Shahzeb said all the seven industrial zones in Karachi had held the government responsible for gas crisis, saying it did not import LNG to cope with the shortfall despite availability of terminals and transport lines.