HYDERABAD, Feb 22: Sui Southern Gas Company managing director Munawar Baseer Ahmed said on Saturday the company was ready to lay a new 16-inch pipe for the city as the number of consumers was increasing. He was talking to members of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the chamber's secretariat.

He said some serious hurdles had been created to commission the scheme of new pipeline. He pointed out that previously, Hyderabad Municipal Corporation used to charge Rs32 per square feet as road cutting fees but the district government was charging Rs450 per square feet in this regard.

He assured the industrialists one window system would be introduced to facilitate industrial units with regards to extension of load, billings and new connections.

Mr Ahmed said with a view to providing maximum facilities to the consumers, customer centres would be established in the city. He said cases of gas connections for industrial self-power generation would be decided very soon and added a six-member advisory committee - three members from the company and three from the Hyderabad chamber - would be set up to decide the cases.

About the sale of company's shares, Mr Ahmed disclosed that 15 times more applications had been received against the given target and it had therefore been decided to hold ballot for the allotment of shares. Referring to metre and service charges, he said uniform rates would be introduced throughout Sindh.