The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) would go by the availability of the natural gas pressure in any particular area, inclusive of the urban areas like Multan for the formal grant of license linked with the setting up of the CNG stations.
Though the Multan SNGPL regional manager denied any categorical policy statement in that regard, he, however, did not deny the fact that any SNGPL approval for the new license would certainly be influenced by the availability of the gas along the area where the new CNG station has been applied for.
The procedural shift without any categorical policy shift speaks of a creeping low key discouraging of what can be called a mushroom setting up of CNG plants all over the country, especially major urban centers like, Faisalabad, Multan, Lahore, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Gujrat, etc.
There was no categorical policy as such to put an embargo on setting up of the CNG stations in any city including Multan, on the count that it was Ogra that was the regulatory authority and not the SNGPL. Responding to a question, the regional manager said if the SNGPL has any operational linkage with the setting up of the new station the pressure of natural gas was certainly an issue.
He said if the pressure along a certain line where the new CNG station was to be set up was not up to mark, the SNGPL would certainly disallow such new station. He also pointed out that if the area was already saturated, it was certainly an impediment to the new applicant.