KARACHI, Nov 28: Participants in a public hearing held here by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Wednesday were told that in the next couple of days a ‘fair price’ of compressed natural gas (CNG) would be set to suit both CNG dealers and consumers.

Ogra chairman Saeed Ahmed Khan and vice chairman Sabar Hussain heard problems of CNG dealers and consumers at the hearing held at a local hotel to set a new price for per kilo of compressed natural gas to save dealers from going into losses as well as protecting consumer interest.

Chairman of the supreme council of the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha said that CNG price before it was slashed by the Supreme Court last month was set by involving various factors.

The chairman through his presentation showed the four stages of manufacturing of CNG.

“In contrast to petrol and diesel pumps, CNG does not come from tanks, it has to be manufactured in a plant,” he said while pointing out that the process involved a certain cost.

“There is also a compression cost. It uses up more electricity when the gas pressure is low. The machine also uses up more energy when switching on after sitting idle for a while,” he said while adding that they deserved their production costs.

He said that the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) on CNG was also “breaking the dealers’ backs”.

He said: “At least do not make us pay from our pockets to provide CNG to the masses. We also need to make a margin. We, the dealers, also want to provide cheap gas to consumers, but it is just not possible.”

Chairman of the Consumer Rights Protection of Pakistan, Shakil Ahmed, said that he had been told that CNG dealers had made huge investments.

“Well, it is really us, the CNG consumers, who have made the biggest investment by converting our vehicles to CNG for a greener, environment-friendly Pakistan,” he said. “Now, we are told to convert to Liquefied petroleum gas [LPG]. A passenger bus has to remove two of its seats in order to accommodate two LPG cylinders. What if they explode?

“The ambulances are parked by roadsides when after the strike by CNG dealers, whatever stations were open have also been closed on the order of the SSGC,” he said.

Mian Sohail Hasan, a consumer, suggested that there were many motor companies in the west coming up with hydrogen cars, so maybe a long-term vision was needed here as well.

Sabir Majeed, another consumer said that the constant CNG stations’ closures had greatly disturbed consumers.

Hafiz ul Haq Hasanzai of the Karachi Taxi and Motor Rickshaw, Yellow Cab Owners Association said that they were ordered to convert their rickshaws to CNG.

“We did the same for taxis, wagons and buses too. And now when CNG is made cheap, we are supposed to lower our fare.

Whatever is going on in the CNG sector is the problem of the government and the CNG associations. Where do we, the transporters, go?” He asked.

Meanwhile, the Ogra chairman said that they had specially come to Karachi for this hearing as they recognised the city as the financial hub of Pakistan.

“We are aware that it is the consumer who is the real taxpayer here and therefore he needs to be facilitated. But the dealers also have a point so in the next couple of days we are looking into setting a fair price to suit both sides,” he said.

Replying to a question about the frequent exploding of CNG cylinders, he said that it was due to the ban imposed on the import of CNG kits.

“The ones made locally are substandard. It is not possible to catch the culprits at once as we keep catching them as we find out about them,” he said.

The vice chairman of Orga said that Ogra was not against the CNG industry and only wanted to protect consumers and all stakeholders.

He also said that for that purpose Ogra had also audited the cost of CNG of some 10 to 12 stations on its own.

But the CNG dealers said that the audit done by Ogra was unrealistic since there were some 3,376 CNG stations across the country and one could not judge them on an average.