The Pakistan Sweater Exporter Association Chairman Shahzad Azam Khan has lambasted the oil and gas bureaucracy for conspiring to fail the government by offering LNG on exuberant rate to the value added textile industry. He said the Oil and gas officials, both in the ministry as well as the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited are supplying LNG at $10.30 per MMBTU instead of $5 per MMBTU, the actual cost.
He added the concerned officials had convinced the industry to pay high price on the pretext that their purchase was expensive. Furthermore, they had pledged to reduce the rate to $5 per MMBTU soon, which is appearing a wild goose chase for industry, he added.
He blamed the government officials for minting profit at the cost of value added textile industry, already hit by the high cost of doing business. The Chairman apprehended a conspiracy of bureaucracy against the government, warning both the federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to be aware of the conspirators.
"Both the ministers are in favour of reducing the LNG price but the beleaguered bureaucracy was adamant to defy them," he stressed. Khan has urged the government to take stock of the situation and save the value added textile industry from collapse by ensuring LNG on affordable price forthwith. He pound out that India was already supplying LNG at $5 per MMBTU to its industry.