..for three consecutive days in a week every week from now on in a number of cities in Pakistan. How will this further degrade our flailing economy?
Three-day CNG closure schedule issued
ISLAMABAD: The Sui-Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) on Sunday
issued a notification for closing down the Punjab CNG stations for three days in
a week with immediate effect.
According to the new gas load-management
plan, the SNGPL has increased gas load shedding from two to three days in Punjab
to curtail the increasing gas shortage in the country.
After
implementation of the notification, gas supply to the CNG stations located in
Lahore, Sheikhupura, Sahiwal, Gujranwala and Multan would remain suspended from
Monday 6am to 6am on Thursday on a weekly basis, while the CNG stations of
Islamabad, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur regions would be deprived of gas from
Thursday 6am to Sunday 6am.
The business community connected to the CNG
business expressed serious concerns against the decision of the federal
government to increase the duration of loadshedding by curtailing gas supply to
CNG stations.
The federal government had taken the principle decision on
June 29, 2011 in a high level meeting to suspend gas supply to the CNG stations
and the industrial sector in Punjab for three days in a week, and for two days
in Sindh.
However the Sindh High Court (SHC) on December 21, 2011 issued
a stay order against gas loadshedding and served notices to the federal
government, the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and the Oil and Gas Regulatory
Authority (OGRA) to continue uninterrupted gas supply to the consumers,
including the CNG business owners.
It was also announced in the decision
to supply 200 mmcfd gas to the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), which had
been saved by the three day loadshedding in Punjab and two days in Sindh, as
part of the efforts to overcome the gas shortage. The All Pakistan Compressed
Natural Gas (CNG) Association has convened a meeting today (Monday) to prepare a
future strategy against the notification issued by the SNGPL. zeeshan javaid
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\07\04\story_4-7-2011_pg1_4