Ministry of Petroleum is considering a proposal to recover the outstanding gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC) in six installments from private sector defaulters, sources said. On January 24, 2019, Finance Minister Asad Umar announced that the cabinet had approved 50 percent waiver on GIDC, amounting to Rs 200 billion, with the option to clear past dues in two installments. This has been now raised to six installments on the recommendation of the private sector defaulters.
An official of the Petroleum Division told Business Recorder that an amended GIDC draft had been vetted by the Law Ministry and it would submit it in the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) for approval. After approval from CCLC, the amended draft would be submitted to parliament for approval. The meeting of CCLC had yet to be scheduled, he said.
The Senate passed GIDC amendment bill to recover about Rs12 billion arrears from CNG stations on May 15, 2018 amidst protest from Pakistan Tahreek Insaaf (PTI) senators claiming that the CNG station owners had collected Rs62 billion from consumers and would now be allowed to pay only Rs12 billion to the government. "Are we working for some lobbyists?" Senator Mohsin Aziz had argued demanding that the bill be sent to a committee for investigation.
Mohsin Aziz, current chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum, has endorsed the proposed 50 percent waiver in GIDC on other sectors. The direct beneficiaries of the government's benevolence in this regard are going to be the fertilizer, CNG and textile sectors with accumulated GIDC collections of over Rs416 billion. These sectors had obtained stay orders from courts in 2012 and continued to collect GIDC from consumers though they did not remit the money to the treasury.
The CNG station owners had been given Rs7 billion waiver on the condition that they deposit Rs12 billion in two installments within three months after the GIDC (Amendment) Bill, 2018 was passed. Sources said PPP-led coalition government had imposed GIDC on gas consumers with the objective of generating financing for gas pipeline projects. The PML-N government used the funds generated through the imposition of GIDC to bridge the fiscal deficit.