Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) President, Mian Anjum Nisar, has said that those government utilities which are running in profit must abstain from burdening its customers by frequently raising charges of their services.
Reacting to the raise announced by the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority for industrial consumers and fertiliser factories, Anjum said that SNGPL earned net profit of Rs two billion during 2002-03 and gave dividend of Rs two to its shareholders. Moreover, the profit of SSGPL was registered at Rs 1.5 billion.
Despite this SNGPL was receiving Rs 181.88 MMBTU while SSGPL was receiving Rs 173.72 MMBTU which in his opinion was unjustified. He said that Chinese and Indian products had already captured local market. In such a situation hike in gas, which was considered as raw material in industries would multiply the problems of industrialists.
He said that textile which was the biggest industry of Pakistan, generating power from gas generators due to expensive electricity.