Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has rejected SNGPL's four-day gas closure plan and said that it would prove last nail in the coffin as a total shutdown would be imminent after the move that would be putting the jobs of over 15 million people and exports of around $14 billion at stake.
"Government would have to reset its priorities regarding provision of gas otherwise the situation would go out of hands", LCCI president, Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said in a statement on Thursday. He said that the new gas load management plan is a well-calculated and well thought-out conspiracy against the present regime. "The rise in number of unemployed would definitely give air to anti-government sentiments and this single step would throw millions of industrial workers out of jobs. It is not only the industry that would be suffering massively but the government would also be an ultimate loser on many counts", he said.
He urged the government to immediately shelve the proposed "Industry Closure Plan" to avert industrial closures and resultant massive layoffs. "How can the industry afford to pay the all-time high mark up when there is no gas for the industry?" He said that there is a global phenomenon that industry is given top priority whereas in Pakistan it comes to the least and other sectors are given priority.
LCCI president also urged the government to get replaced obsolete gas geysers and heaters with latest solar geysers and heaters to ensure gas to the industry. He said that around 40 percent of the industrial units in Punjab run on gas and gas suspension means no production by almost half of the industry and a loss of millions of rupees to the exchequer.
The 'discriminatory attitude' of the government was not only denting its goodwill and reputation but had also put a question mark on its ability to manage and govern things. He maintained that the units in Sindh were getting an almost uninterrupted supply except a two- to-three hour load-shedding.
Pointing out that the gas suspension plan a death knell for export-based industry and productivity, Irfan Qaiser Sheikh sought the Prime Minister's intervention and help for a regular supply of gas to the industry in Punjab. How the industry would be able to manage export orders worth millions of dollars when there is no gas? What about thousands of daily wagers that have only one source of income? And above all, they added, how the government would convince both the local and foreign investors for investment when it is unable to manage the supply of gas to existing industrial units. They said that the decision has sent a very negative signal to the foreign buyers.
"Instead of coming up with some sort of relief package, the industry is being pushed to the wall. The gas suspension for four days a week is tantamount to throttling the industry to death."
Giving a break-up, LCCI president said that the industry was denied gas for 77 days in 2008-09, 100 days in 2009-10 and 160 days in 2010-11. "Over 72 percent hike in power tariff in the last four months had made the scenario more complex and complicated. To run the industry on alternative fuel, including diesel and furnace oil is not a viable proposition." The shortage of gas is not the only issue, its improper distribution also remains a cause of worry. Lahore chamber had sent an SOS call to the federal government on continuous energy disruptions as the gas and electricity were a prerequisite for the smooth functioning during winter.
The government should divert all newly found gas to the network of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited network. Expeditious import of 500 million cubic feet gas per day LNG would considerably overcome the gas shortage for the industry. Despite competitive quality and price, Pakistan exporters were unable to make delivery on time, they added.
He said that it seemed that some elements in the gas department were hatching conspiracies against the government to defame it. He said that the businessmen were unable to understand that why the business community was not taken into confidence over industry-related issues and if the SNGPL was facing some supply related issues they must bring them to the notice of real stakeholders well ahead of time. "It would have taken about two years to set up a system for LNG supply, had the government been accepted LCCI proposal a couple years ago.
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