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KARACHI, Dec 19:The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and SITE Association of Industry (SITE) have strongly opposed the recommendation of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Orga) for about 17 per cent increase in gas tariff.
The SITE Chairman, Ameen Bandukda, in a statement on Monday said that the gas companies with the approval of Orga have already increased the gas prices five times since July 2002.
The present trend of increasing gas prices will further put in jeopardy the viability of industries, as a whole, in this competitive era. The cost of doing business is already high and it would further aggravate. Mr Ameen said that the ever-increasing gas prices had rendered, particularly, the products of value-added industries uncompetitive in the domestic market as well as the world export market. “If the price of gas is not capped, the export-oriented and value-added industries will be forced to close down,” he added. He urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to direct the Orga to reject the SSGC’s petition for gas price hike, as gas is obtained from the indigenous sources and is found in abundance in Pakistan. Why don’t the gas companies improve their efficiency, he asked.
The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has also flayed the Orga’s recommendation for increasing the gas price.
It said in a statement that the gas price rise would increase the cost of CNG, thus discouraging the car owners from switching over to gas from petrol due to alarming high prices of POL products.
The Federation urged the president to take notice of the Orga’s move so that the burden on the common man, who uses natural gas for cooking, could be averted.
OUR CORRESPONDENT ADDS FROM SUKKUR: The Sukkur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President, Khalid Mehmood Khan, and the managing committee members have strongly opposed the 17 per cent increase in gas tariff by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) from January 1, 2006, and said that, it would affect the industries, the trade and the common man alike.
This view was expressed at the SCCI meeting held on Monday. It was noted that the common men were already over-burdened with the high rate of food prices and was not able to accept even 2 per cent increase. The meeting warned that if the gas rates were increased a number of industries would close resulting in large scale unemployment, leading to the worst kind of labour unrest.
The Chamber also protested against the increase in fares announced by the Pakistan Railway administration, and said that after an all-round increase in prices of petroleum products, electricity and gas, the raise in railway fares would break the backbone of the common man.
The participants of the meeting were of the view that the government was all along propagating for elimination of poverty, whereas these measures would add to the poverty level in the country. The chamber appealed to the president, and the prime minister to withdraw the raise in gas tariff which would be in the best national interest.
Meanwhile, the Sukkur chamber demanded of the CBR to implement e-filing of sales tax and federal excise returns from next year and make it optional by eliminating the mandatory condition of e-filing, as the last date for filing returns is December 15.
It said that a number of small firms were not equipped with computers to file their returns electronically.
The Chamber also urged the CBR to abolish the registration fee of Rs5,000 for e-filing of tax returns which amounts to double taxation.
