Prolonged gas outage causes adverse effects on economy: Pak Minister
Jan 31, 2022
Karachi [Pakistan], January 31 : Amid the gas crisis in Pakistan's Sindh, the country's Provincial Minister for Industries & Commerce and Cooperative Department Jam Ikramullah Dharejo said the gas outage to industries in the province is having adverse effects on the economy and as a result, unemployment and poverty are on the rise.
In a statement on Sunday, the Provincial Minister expressed concern over prolonged gas shutdown to industries said that Karachi industries are facing gas shutdown from November 21, 2021, according to The Nation newspaper.
Industries are suffering due to the poor policies of the Imran Khan-led Pakistan government.
"The gas cut has affected the employment of thousands of people. Domestic consumers also suffer. Gas is also not available during cooking in many areas. The federal government has been creating troubles for both industrial and domestic consumers. Protests by industrialists against gas cut-off are justified," he said in the statement cited by the publication.
Pakistan's province Sindh has been facing several shortages of gas, as one of the leading gas companies in Karachi had decided to suspend its supply to all the compressed natural gas (CNG) stations from December 1 last year to February 15 2022.
According to Dawn, the Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGCL) has decided to suspend gas supply across Sindh and Balochistan.
In a statement, the SSGCL said gas supply to all captive power plants (CPPS) of non-export industrial units was discontinued last Friday till further orders due to this winter spike. However, all general industries, zero-rated export industries including its CPPs and fertiliser sector will continue to get the gas, Dawn had reported.
In November 2021, Energy Minister Hammad Azhar had informed that the government has arranged 11 LNG cargoes for the current month, The News International had reported.
LNG trading companies have backed out of an agreement made with PLL to provide two cargoes for November for mammoth monetary gains of up to 200 per cent profit in the international spot market, according to the publication.
