ISLAMABAD: Sui Northern Gas pipelines Limited’s declaration of Rs135,673,877 as recoverable Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) in its unaudited accounts for third quarter ending September 30, 2023, raises some serious questions.

The 2018 amendment granted a 50 per cent waiver on GIDC arrears to the CNG sector, slashing their dues by half.

This was a significant adjustment that should have drastically reduced SNGPL’s reported receivables, which does not seem to have been done, a former Member (Gas) Muhammad The Supreme Court (PLD 2020 SC 641) mandated GIDC recovery in 24 equal installments and explicitly prohibited the further charging of GIDC in gas bills until existing funds were utilised.

Rs148bn receivables: SNGPL holds CPPA-G responsible

Sectors have largely complied with this directive, so how does SNGPL justify such a colossal outstanding amount, Arif added.

He said that receivables from the power sector tell a similar tale of inconsistency and inflated claims.

Despite agreements and installment plans, the SNGPL continues to report astronomical receivables.

On the other side of the equation, he further alleged that SNGPL is deliberately withholding payments to the gas producers which has accumulated to an unmanageable situation when the government had already allowed recovery of all previous short falls in gas pricing effective November 2023 all of which had been recovered in one go.

He maintained that SNGPL’s receivable claims, especially for GIDC, are riddled with discrepancies and cannot be trusted at face value. When contacted with SNGPL, no one was available for comments.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024