KARACHI: President of SITE Association of Industry Abdul Rasheed has urged the federal government to provide gas to Karachi industries as per demand by taking immediate steps aimed at reducing cost of production and removing obstacles in industrial activities.

While opposing giving gas share of Sindh province to Punjab, he said that Sindh province has the first right to use gas produced in the province.

He informed the media that as a result of gas crisis, the export share of Karachi industries has declined by four percent, which now stands at 50 percent instead of 54 percent, which will ultimately have negative impact on exports and national economy as a whole.

Expressing concern over the information of providing 100 MMCFD gas produced from Ghotki to SNGPL instead of SSGCL, Rasheed said that it is in violation of Article 158 of the Constitution.

Rasheed has demanded the federal government to allocate gas produced from Ghotki only to SSGCL so as to meet the demand of industrial and residential consumers of Sindh.

Terming violation of Article 158 as an attempt to deprive Karachi industries of their constitutional rights, Rasheed said that due to non-supply of gas, industrial activities have been badly affected, resulting in delayed completion of export orders and failure to ship export orders on time.

SITE president further said that Karachi industries have been facing gas shortage since last four months.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022