KARACHI: Various industrial areas in the city are facing severe low gas pressure despite the federal government’s assurance of uninterrupted gas supply in winter, heads of industry associations said on Tuesday.

President SITE Association of Industry Abdul Hadi said the area is still deprived of consistent and committed gas pressure due to which many industrial pockets are struggling to meet export orders which surged after Covid-19 lockdowns were lifted.

The federal government had committed in October to provide consistent supply of gas to Karachi industries at substantially increased tariff by injecting imported re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) into the system during winter months to avoid low pressure and gas load shedding issues, he recalled.

Karachi industrialists reluctantly agreed to this proposition in order to fulfill their domestic and export commitments, he added. To our dismay, the gas availability and pressure at various industrial areas of the city is still not suitable for production, resulting in order cancellation and loss of earning for daily wagers, he claimed.

Hadi said that on the one hand, the Ministry of Commerce and Prime Minister Imran Khan want to increase exports and encourage industrialisation and on the other hand, the Ministry of Petroleum is not providing Karachi with committed energy resources.

President North Karachi Association of Trade & Industry (NKATI) Faisal Moiz Khan while protesting against the promise of Sui Southern Gas (SSGC) and non-supply of gas to industries, urged the prime minister to take notice and issue directives for supplying gas with the required pressure to industries of North Karachi.

In a statement, NKATI president said zero gas pressure to the industries have severely affected production activities while timely execution of export orders was becoming difficult with looming danger of export order cancellation.

“It was assured that if the industrialists would take gas at an additional tariff Rs930 mmBtu instead of the old tariff, the industries would be supplied with full-pressure by entering the RLNG system. However, the SSGC is not supplying the promised gas to industries at full pressure,” he pointed out.

He said the industrialists were in favour of buying expensive gas till February but unfortunately SSGC did not fulfill its promise.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2020