The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has announced to revise the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) tariff upwards by Rs 2.50/kg effective from January 1, 2009 and threatened to shut down all CNG pumps in case of short gas supply. This was stated by Abdul Sami Khan, Chairman, PPDA at a press conference on Tuesday.
According to an agreement signed by the government and the CNG industry, the price of CNG would be revised by the price committee, which would be fixed in June and December every year and when the gas and electricity tariffs are increased, he said.
He said the government has given go-ahead signal to increase Rs 1.25 per kg from January 2009 but the decision is unjustifiable because the recent increase in electricity tariff would also create an impact of Rs 1.25 per kg in CNG price. Therefore, the association has fixed the CNG tariff at Rs 47.50 per kg, which will be effective from 2009, he informed.
He said the price of crude oil has also come down, significantly and demanded the government to revise the gas tariff again. Sami further said the industry is suffering by insufficient gas supply however, textile and fertilizer industries are being entertained in this regard.
"If the government does not take any positive measures to provide sufficient gas supply to meet the demand, all CNG stations would be shut down across the country," he maintained. To a question, he said the Sindh province has no shortage of gas, hence there is no reason to close CNG stations here.
He said the commission on petrol has been reduced from Rs 2.43 per liter to only 60paisa, which is creating immense difficulties for dealers to meet operational expenses and added the petrol pumps are running into losses. He apprised that the association has requested the secretary petroleum and other high officials to restore dealers' commission in several meetings but no positive move has yet been taken in this regard.
Therefore, the association has decided to raise the issue again in the final dialogue on December 4, and added that if the commission on petrol was not restored, the sale of petrol would be stopped. Furthermore, he announced that all kinds of credit cards would not be accepted from Wednesday (today) at all petrol pumps, besides petrol will not be sold when the pumps are dry because of non-supply.