General manager Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company Limited (SNGPL) Peshawar Region, Imdad Hussain, has said that the country has to overcome the problem of the gas load management by 2010 after completion of the international gas supply project.
Talking in the Guest Hour Programme of Peshawar Press Club (PPC) on Tuesday, he said that with an unprecedented economic growth and industrialisation the natural gas resources of the country were on decline. "To meet the growing demand we would have no other option than importing natural gas to overcome the growing shortfall," he added.
He said that during last financial year, the company had achieved the targets of giving 18,000 domestic connections while in head of commercial and industrial sector the company had achieved 115 percent target. For the current financial year, the GM SNGPL informed that they are going to give 30,000 domestic, 400 commercial and 50 industrial connections.
However, he said that the process would not be limited to only the achievement of the targets rather it would continue onward.Imdad Hussain said that the company during last financial year had conducted a survey over the leakage of the gas in some areas of the city and its suburban areas. During the survey, he said 160 areas were checked and 50,000 leakage places have been identified. A similar kind of survey was going in Mardan, Nowshera and Charsadda districts.
He informed that gas supply systems in 15 to 20 private colonies of the regions have also been replaced with the purpose of controlling human as well as gas losses. Similarly, he said that a 30-kilometer pipeline has been laid during the previous financial year while another 40-kilometer pipeline would be laid down in the current financial year.
He said that a 350-kilometer long gas pipeline would be laid in the current year in different areas of the province under Tameer-e-Sarhad and Khushal Pakistan programmes besides projects initiated on the special directives of Prime Minister Aziz. Furthermore, he said that a 30-kilometer long pipeline would also be laid for the upgradation of the system. The project would cost Rs 500 million.
The good news, he said was the approval of the gas supply to six southern districts that could be inaugurated any time after Ramazan. He said that the completion of the project would bring revolution in the lives of the people of southern districts. In response to question, he said that 'they are observing only load management and never go for load shedding'. However, he said that for winter of this year they had taken certain measures to avoid such a situation and specially mentioned the starting of gas supply from Gurguri Gas Field.
Similarly, he said that the pressure of gas supply to the province has also been increased from 290 MMCF to 350 MMCF due to which there would not be any load shedding.