Country could face gas crisis in coming winter, warns PM

(Karachi) Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the country could face gas crisis in the coming winter and there is a need to build a national consensus to steer Pakistan out of the situation.

Addressing a seminar on natural gas supply in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said that indigenous gas reserves were depleting and the country is now importing gas.

He said, "People would have to bear the burden of the import costs and it would also result in an increase of circular debt in the energy sector."

The PM stated, “Only 27 percent of households have access to piped gas whilst the remaining rely on the LPG cylinders, which is four times more expensive than piped gas.”

He added that a subsidy should be provided for the benefit of poor people and to help in the uplift of underdeveloped areas of the country. “The presentation that I recently got on subsidies is opposite to what I have envisioned,” he said, “People getting subsidies are already very powerful.”

PM Imran highlighted that if previous governments had taken measures on national issues, the situation would have been a lot different. “Sometimes provinces do rise up but some do fall behind,” he said. “But never expect a province to rise when the entire country is facing crises.”

Imran said that if debates are done in the right manner, then people develop wisdom which would lead to important debates in the media as well.