Body bickers over GIDC

The Senate Special Committee on Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) on Wednesday remained divided over the issue of GIDC bill 2015 with opposition senators underscoring the need for referring the matter to Council of Common Interest (CCI). The committee met here with Iqbal Zarfar convenor committee in the chair. Members from Jamiat Ullema Islam (JUI-F), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf opposed the levy, urging the convener to write a letter to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources over the collection of levy.
The chairman Senate Raza Rabbani formed this special committee to oversee the GIDC bill 2015 with a view to making it more beneficial and supportive. The GIDC was introduced by the Pakistan People's Party government in 2011 to generate necessary funding for constructing Iran-Pakistan (IP) Pipeline, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI), Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Airmix projects.
Earlier, during a discussion, members of opposition parties criticised the government for imposing the GIDC. Senator Talha Mehmood of JUI-F said that it was illegal and the government must immediately stop the collection of GIDC. Ilyas Billour of ANP also opposed the imposition of GIDC and said the committee has no power to amend the bill. Senator Saif of MQM said if the government did not stop the collection of Cess from gas consumers they would have the option to file a petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Defending the bill, PML-N Senator Mohisn laghari said the PPP, MQM, ANP and even PML-N had supported the move when it was introduced by the PPP-led federal government in 2011. He said that now MQM, JUI-F and ANP are opposing the bill without any solid reasons, adding gas companies required Rs 300 billion to lay domestic pipelines and the IP project needed Rs 200 billion. Ilyas Billour said the government had kept the cess open-ended which could be imposed on any sector. He said it was an advance tax which would provide an opportunity to impose a surcharge on water to generate financing for dams. Barrister Saif argued that the government should not keep it open-ended and there should be some limit.