PESHAWAR, Jan 23: Industrial units in NWFP were forced to cut their manufacturing operations drastically since early this month owing to partial or in some cases complete suspension of gas supply to them, according to sources.

Of the total 70 to 75 million million cubic feet (mmcft) gas consumption requirements of NWFP, 25 per cent is utilized by the industrial sector using it as fuel.

Whereas, the rest is consumed by domestic consumers, according to figures obtained from the local office of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGPL).

Since early this month SNGPL curtailed gas supply to over 50 industrial units in NWFP - mostly in Peshawar - after recording gas shortages due to persisting cold wave in Punjab.

The move was aimed at meeting the domestic consumers’ daily consumption requirements.

“Gas supply was completely suspended to most of the industrial units in NWFP except for a few ones that too were being supplied limited gas to operate their furnaces saving them from greater financial losses,” said a senior SNGPL official.

Opposing the suspension of gas supply to industrial units in NWFP, affected owners, talking to Dawn, urged alternative arrangements to save the already recession-hit NWFP industrial sector from more losses.

To off-set the locational disadvantage and other impediments hampering the NWFP industrial sector, said an industrialist on request of anonymity. Federal government should, at least, make arrangements to ensure non-stop gas supply to the industrial concerns in NWFP.

Two or three years back, according to SNGPL sources, a parallel pipeline was laid to improve supply to the gas-based industrial units of the Hayatabad industrial estate, here, helping the industrial units to get uninterrupted gas flow even during winter — a point also acknowledged by the owners.

However, they said that after a gap of hardly two years they again got gas supply disconnected from the start of the current month owing to condensation of gas in pipes due to extreme cold in the Punjab.

“Gas-based industrial concerns don’t experience such a situation even in European countries where temperature goes down to -30 or -40 Celsius in winter,” said a leading industrialist of NWFP, adding that “we should also develop infrastructure which should ensure uninterrupted gas supply even during winter.”

He said that the discontinuation of industrial operations owing to suspension of gas supply had forced several of the NWFP industrialists to undergo huge financial losses.

“Overhead expenses would remain the same making us to undergo considerable financial losses as we would have to pay monthly salary to our staff, pay interest on the bank loan and bear the fixed cost of electricity - no matter we have suspended our industrial operations for the last 15 days due to disconnection of gas,” said a former president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry on request of anonymity.

He said according to the SNGPL’s figures, all the gas-based industrial units of NWFP did not collectively consume gas equal to the quantity consumed by a single fertilizer unit of the Punjab.