The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline (SNGPL) management on Monday submitted a Rs 30 billion 5-year investment plan to the Minister for Petroleum, Muhammad Asif, here for expansion and improvement of its gas distribution network.
Sources told Business Recorder that Managing Director Rashid Lone gave a detailed presentation to the Minister on SNGPL technical and financial health, besides apprising him of the 5-year investment plan. He informed the Minister that SNGPL would generate funds, to make its investment plan a reality, from indigenous resources.
He said the plan has been prepared keeping in mind the infrastructure requirements for the growing gas demand in SNGPL coverage area. He said SNGPL was making annual profit of Rs 8 to 9 billion and, after paying taxes to the government and dividend to the shareholders, it could spare the required funds for development and expansion of its network.
SNGPL is responsible to supply gas to Punjab, NWFP and Azad Kashmir, and the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) to the remaining two provinces-Sindh and Balochistan. Since SNGPL area for gas supply is comparatively larger it gets more than half of total gas available for the consumers.
Rashid told the Minister that SNGPL was a profit-making entity and it invested over $500 million during last five years to enhance efficiency and expand its distribution network, besides paying substantial revenue as gas development surcharge (GDS) to the government. He said that SNGPL gas consumers were increasing on regular basis and just in past five year it added one million new households and 2000 industrial consumers in its system.
Asif appreciated SNGPL role and, in particular, its management's attitude to rely on its indigenous resources to keep on expanding the network to meet the growing demand of gas in its jurisdiction. He assured the SGNPL management all-out support on behalf of the Ministry for betterment of its system and improving quality of service to its consumers.
SNGPL's presentation was part of sensitisation programme to apprise the Minister about the ministry and its departments' working. Earlier, PSO and a few other attached departments had apprised the minister of their working, liabilities, technical and financial position besides their role in revenue generation and giving services to the people in different areas. SSGC, OGDC and other public sector exploration and production companies are yet to present their cases to the minister.
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