KARACHI: The Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Dealers Association called a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday to inform the media about the ‘unfair’ treatment meted out to Sindh by the government over the matter of distribution of natural gas and fixing of its price.

“Sindh produces 72 per cent of Pakistan’s gas while it uses only 48pc. Since Sindh is surplus in gas it has a right to be provided its benefits on a priority basis,” said Abdul Sami Khan, chairman of the CNG Dealers Association and Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association.

“But, instead, thanks to the unfair treatment to Sindh by the federal government, we have run into losses amounting to Rs78 billion,” he added.

“Gas now is Rs58.25 per kg in Punjab and here in Sindh it costs Rs67.50 per kg,” he said.

“Please don’t get us wrong. We are quite pleased for Punjab over the provision of Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas to their CNG stations thereby rescuing their CNG dealers from long distress on account of unavailability of gas for over two years. However, we are of the opinion that all provinces should be treated on a par to strengthen the federation. As per constitutional provisions, all provinces producing natural gas have priority rights over it. The CNG price difference between Sindh and Punjab is in clear conflict with the Constitution,” he said.

It was explained that in reality Punjab is using natural gas produced by Sindh because there is no dedicated line for the supply of Liquefied Natural Gas. What is happening is the Sui Southern Gas Company is swapping LNG with the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited and is supplying LNG to its customers in Sindh with a high BTU (1,050 BTU), he said.

“Due to this CNG dealers in Sindh are now receiving an added Rs100,000 in their bills. Meanwhile, our petroleum minister is saying that whoever uses natural gas has to pay all taxes, meaning 17pc General Sales Tax [GST] and about Rs200 MMBTU Gas Infrastructure Development Cess [GIDC]. As for those who use imported gas are exempt from GIDC and only have to pay 5pc GST,” Abdul Sami Khan said.

Bashir Akbar Ali, a stakeholder and office-bearer of CNG Dealers Association, said that it was not right to pass on benefits that should have come to Sindh to Punjab. “Even when oil prices in the international market fell, its benefit was not forwarded to the public here. As far as CNG is concerned, it is fuel for the middle-class and lower-middle class. When the CNG dealers are incurring losses, they will close down business and then you can very well imagine what will happen to our public transport system which depends on CNG,” he said.

Mohammad Ali, another stakeholder, said that the CNG industry needed constant maintenance, which won’t be possible for long if they had to pay astronomical taxes and salaries for their labour while hardly making any profits. “I believe the government is suppressing CNG to promote LNG,” he said.

Malik Khuda Bakhsh, also a stakeholder, suggested that all anomalies regarding the distribution and fixing of price should be removed and all provinces should be treated “fairly, equitably and without any bias or discrimination”.

He also suggested that the government deregulate CNG as had been done in Punjab. “This way we can maintain CNG prices keeping in view our profits and losses,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2016