FPCCI calls for reprimanding the culprits within the government

KARACHI: The government’s failure to provide gas to the industry has caused unbearable losses to the business community, an official said on Thursday.

The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) president Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo said that due to the cut off in gas supply, the country is losing its momentum of productivity, export orders, employment generation which will reflect badly on the growth rate of the current fiscal year.

Maggo also demanded that the government and the Prime Minister Imran Khan should reprimand the relevant ministries and departments responsible for the gas crisis, as in his opinion, it is a conspiracy against his government.

He added that investigations can point towards one of its own ministries, which is facilitating new terminals at the cost of the national interest of Pakistan and causing the destruction of industrial production, which is the backbone of foreign exchange earnings and exports.

There is a surplus capacity in the existing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals and distribution network, however no professional planning and preparatory arrangements were made to avert or lessen the crisis that has struck the industry like never before in the ongoing winters.

The FPCCI president added that he is not against the setting up of new LNG terminals, nonetheless it appears that the current crisis is being portrayed as the result of lack of LNG infrastructure, which is not true.

In fact, there is so much shortage of gas, that a huge part of the capacity of the LNG terminals is currently underutilised, he added.

There is a need to import a bigger capacity floating regasification storage unit (FSRU) ship, to add larger volumes of gas to the gas distribution infrastructure and supply the required gas to the industries at the earliest.

It was heard that an LNG terminal had also proposed a 600 mmcfd FSRU ship earlier, but it was turned down and the government settled for a much smaller FSRU of 400 mmcfd, Maggo said.

He also expressed his shock that the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) association in Sindh has gone on a strike, but the government is not even contacting or listening to their concerns, saying that their livelihoods have been jeopardised and now they are being neglected and their voice is not being heard.