(November 09-2022)
Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said the severity of winter is increasing therefore a large amount of LPG should be imported from Iran to save the people.
Currently, LPG is being smuggled from Iran, which increases its price therefore this trade should be legalized to bring down prices, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that natural gas is in short supply in Pakistan, the current price of LNG in the global market is much higher than our purchasing power and in these circumstances, the supply of LPG and solar energy are the only immediate options to provide relief to the people.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that natural gas reserves are decreasing by ten percent annually, while the use of LPG is increasing by seventeen percent annually.
At present, the consumption of LPG in the country is 1.3 million tonnes per annum, of which forty-one percent is used for domestic consumption, while 43 percent is used by the commercial and sixteen percent by the industrial sector, he said.
He said that increasing the use of LPG can reduce the energy crisis and provide some relief to the people.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that despite the US sanctions on Iran, Turkey and many other countries are buying oil and gas from Iran, so Pakistan can also do the same, while LPG storage infrastructure can also be built across the country which will help balance prices.
At present, the government is charging Rs34 per kg as general sales tax and petroleum levy on LPG, which if abolished, will make the fuel cheaper and the people will get some relief.
If LPG is promoted in Pakistan like in other countries, then the losses of the state-run gas companies can be reduced, which will also reduce the circular debt in this sector, he said.
