Government urged to formulate viable policy on CNG sector

Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Mohammed Ejaz Chaudhary said on Thursday that the government should formulate a viable and workable policy on CNG sector as gas consumption is increasing everyday. He was briefing the Sub-Committee of National Assembly's Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources.
Parliamentary penal, while terming Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) a state within state due to corruption and malpractices in awarding CNG licenses despite a ban, said that the practice should be checked. The committee meeting held on Thursday with Sardar Talib Nakai in the chair, took up the issue of the cases of CNG connections/relocations granted by Ogra after February, 6, 2008 when Prime Minister banned issuing of licenses for new CNG stations until further orders.
The committee members in consultations with relevant officials decided that on March 13 the fate of these 523 CNG stations would be decided, which were commissioned from 2008-11 despite the ban on new CNG stations. Begum Shahnaz Shiekh, member parliamentary panel said that officials of Ogra granted licenses to these CNG station by taking millions of rupees of bribes, as there was no authority to check the officials from doing corruption.
The Secretary Petroleum said that the country also needed a clear cut gas policy, saying that gas consumption by domestic sector was waste of the precious resource and in the future due to serious gas shortage no new towns as well as villages should be provided gas connections. He said that the Ministry was in trouble to handle 150 to 200 cases of CNG licenses, as Ogra officials had not conducted inspections, adding: "Ogra as well as Sui gas companies are equally responsible for spread of CNG stations."
He said that he refused to accept pressure from ambassadors of different countries to relax import of CNG cylinders and kits, adding that gas connections to new towns and villages should be banned to avoid gas crisis. The committee members observed that ban was imposed with the intention to overcome gas crisis, but Ogra continued giving licenses of CNG stations, besides its involvement in relocation of CNG stations sites.
Member of sub-body of parliamentary penal Begum Shehnaz Sheikh alleged that Ogra had been involved in malpractice in CNG cases and termed Ogra "a state within state". "Ogra officials have been involved in giving provisional licenses in back dates and I can prove it," Sheikh said, adding that restructuring of Ogra should be made to ensure transparency. She also asked to verify degrees of Ogra officials. Another member of sub-committee Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir observed that there were many cases in which No Objection Certificates (NoCs) were not sought, but Ogra had issued licenses in violation of Prime Minister's directives. "There has been no gas crisis if Ogra would have not involved in illegal award of CNG licenses," he said.
All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) Ghyias Abdullah Paracha said that the government had formed a policy in 2007 to encourage use of gas in CNG stations. "We have given a proposal to the Petroleum Ministry to save gas that should be diverted to CNG sector," he said, adding that 561 CNG stations had been closed that had worried investors. While talking to journalists after the meeting, Paracha said that the government had illegally closed CNG stations.