FRIDAY FEBRUARY 03: PDL and GST on POL items: only parliament to decide abolition or reduction, says Asim

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Dr Asim Hussain on Thursday informed the National Assembly that the Parliament was the competent forum to decide about abolition or reduction in Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) and sales tax on POL products.
Responding to a call attention notice‚ he said there is a need for rational energy policy for dealing with the issue of gas shortage in the country. Merely condemning the issue, gas shortage would not end....we have to design a rational energy policy in this regard.
He said the import price of petrol comes to Rs 64 per liter and it is being sold at Rs 94.91 per liter. The price includes inland freight margin of two rupees and eighty paisa; margin of oil marketing companies one rupee and ninety-eight paisa; dealers' margin; Rs 10 petroleum levy and 16 percent general sales tax (GST) which comes to thirteen rupees and nine paisa.
The minister reiterated that it is for the parliament to decide about abolition or reduction of PDL and GST on POL products. The parliament had imposed taxes on the POL products and the same forum can decide about the withdrawal of taxes on such products. If the parliament thinks that taxes on POL products are higher, it can reduce or abolish PDL or GST on the POL products, he added. Unfortunately, we have gas shortage in the country as everything is running on gas including vehicles, fertiliser plants and residential use. If we did not act timely and took appropriate measure for gas conservation, it would lead to disaster, Dr Asim maintained.
He said the petroleum ministry has no role in determining prices of POL products as for this purpose there is Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra)‚ which is under Cabinet Division. The Ogra is an independent regulatory body responsible for determining the prices of the POL products. The Ministry of Petroleum only receives summary from Ogra and forwards it to the Finance Ministry for approval. The Ogra has been created by an Act of Parliament and the Petroleum Ministry cannot be held responsible for increase in prices of POL products. In response to a question regarding increase in gas prices‚ he said 10 percent development levy has been imposed and this would increase the price of CNG by only 36 paisa per kilogram. He added that the increase in petroleum prices was the result of hike in international oil prices. There was an urgent need to seriously take up the issue of energy fixation in the House.