As gas stations reopen in Pakistan's Karachi, CNG prices shoot up

Karachi [Pakistan], July 5 : Consumers who queued up to fill up their vehicles at CNG stations in Karachi, which reopened on Monday after almost two weeks, said they were being sold compressed natural gas at a hike of Rs 16 per kg.
The News International quoting Geo News reported that consumers were concerned as the price of CNG had been raised by CNG pump stations owners, who cited the increase in the sales tax on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as the main reason for the hike in prices.
CNG stations in the city reopened today after being closed since June 22 and there were long queues of vehicles outside stations since Sunday night.
The move has sparked panic among the CNG Association of Pakistan, which called an emergency meeting and decided to forward its concerns to the federal government.
During the meeting chaired by Ghiasuddin Paracha, it was discussed that due to an increase in the LNG's import price, and a hike in the GST imposed on LNG, the price of CNG had increased by Rs 18 per litre where the gas was being sold in litres.
Where CNG was being sold in kgs, its price had increased by Rs 30 per kg, the meeting was informed.
Earlier this month, Geo News reported the worsening state of Pakistan's energy crisis, with the country facing an electricity shortfall of somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 megawatts.
Unannounced load-shedding has reached its peak in Punjab, including Lahore, due to the electricity shortfall. Unannounced power suspension of up to three to five hours at many places during the last 72 hours had heightened the misery of the public.
Due to the power crisis, besides Lahore, long hours of load-shedding are also taking place in other cities, including Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi.