ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Monday issued directives for equitable distribution of gas, across the country and strict implementation of the ECC decisions.
Chairing a special high level meeting here at the PM House to review the gas supply situation, particularly to the industrial sector in Punjab, Gilani called for ensuring judicious supply across the board.
The Prime Minister said that the decisions taken in the last ECC meeting be implemented in letter and spirit. He directed the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources to expedite the implementation of the decision for import of Liquified Natural Gas with the help of ministries concerned.
The Prime Minister also asked for convening of the third review meeting of Energy Summit at the earliest in consultation with all the stakeholders.
Gilani said the decisions taken should clearly reflect uniform approach in distribution of resources among all the stakeholders after taking them on board. He said both Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) should focus on reducing losses due to leakages and theft.
He said that effective policies be adopted to ensure use of certified appliances having efficiency of 50% instead of the current average of 22 % to help gas conservation. He also directed to launch public awareness campaign for adoption of conservation measures by the consumers.
The Prime Minister urged measures to encourage entrepreneur friendly policies to enhance exploration and increased gas availability.
Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif thanked the Prime Minister for his personal interest and attention towards resolving gas supply situation and appreciated his political sagacity and wisdom in handling national issues through consensus approach.
He said the decisions taken in the meeting would greatly help avert the gas crisis in the country, and in Punjab in particular.
Earlier, the Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources briefed the participants of the meeting on the gas supply situation throughout the country highlighting the increasing demand of gas because of the winter.
He said one of the reasons of shortage had been increase in domestic connections during the year and said there were certain difficulties in implementation of decisions taken earlier because of gas supply and increased demand.
He apprised the participants that additional gas supply was expected from some of the gas fields during January as well as after closure of fertilizer plants for maintenance which would help supplement gas supplies among all the stakeholders.
The representatives of APTMA, fertilizer industry, LNG importers and CNG also explained the difficulties of their respective sectors due to shortage of gas supply.
The meeting was also attended by Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal and Provincial Secretaries, MD PEPCO, MD SNGPL and other senior officials.
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