Centre to restore gas supply to KP CNG stations from today

PESHAWAR: The federal government has agreed to resume the supply of 35mmcfd natural gas to compressed natural gas stations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Thursday, following a meeting between federal and provincial representatives in Islamabad, according to a senior government official.

The decision came a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituted a ministerial committee to discuss the suspension of gas supply to CNG stations in the province. Representing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the meeting were Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, Adviser to the Chief Minister on Finance Muzzammil Aslam, opposition leader in the KP Assembly Dr Ibadullah and other officials. The federal side included Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervez Malik, and officials of SNGPL and other relevant departments.

Supply to resume during daytime hours

A KP government official who attended the meeting said the Centre had agreed to restore 35mmcfd gas supply to the province’s CNG stations from Thursday. He said the stations would receive gas from 6am to 6pm.

The same official said the province’s domestic and commercial sectors require 120mmcfd of gas daily and were receiving supply without interruption. He added that KP’s CNG stations need 40 to 45mmcfd each day, but that supply had been curtailed last month. Following discussions between the two sides, he said, supply to the CNG sector would now restart.

Statements from KP officials

In a statement, Muzzammil Aslam thanked Governor Kundi and Dr Ibadullah for backing the chief minister on what he described as a sensitive issue for the people of the province. Referring to constitutional provisions, he said Article 158 did not allow gas supply within the country to be stopped.

“Gas helps produce cheaper electricity and the Constitution says gas should first be supplied to the province where it is produced, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the largest gas-producing province in Pakistan,” he said in the statement.

Governor Kundi, in a separate statement, said political parties had shown unity in prioritising the province’s issues. He said all stakeholders would have to contribute to resolving them. “We want a strong federation and therefore, we requested the prime minister to take notice of this [CNG supply] matter. We informed the prime minister about it and an agreement was reached to provide 35mmcfd gas to KP,” he said.

The governor said CNG stations across the province would reopen on Thursday and receive uninterrupted gas supply from 6am to 6pm. He also said the federal government and the KP government were working together on outstanding issues.

According to Governor Kundi, the prime minister had also acted on the wheat issue, which he said was expected to be resolved within a day or two. In another statement, the governor thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for forming a committee to address the gas supply issue and welcomed the decision to restore 35mmcfd to the province.

“These are positive developments towards addressing the province’s genuine concerns,” he said.

He also appreciated the coordination between the federal and provincial governments, and thanked Rana Sanaullah and Ali Pervez Malik for their role in what he described as an amicable settlement of the matter. He further praised both the provincial government and opposition parties, saying their unity was a positive step in the public interest.

CNG association awaits formal orders

When contacted, KP CNG Association president Fazl Muqeem said the association had not yet received formal instructions regarding the reopening of stations. He said gas supply to more than 600 CNG stations in the province had remained suspended since April 14.

Earlier this week, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to intervene in order to end the CNG crisis in the province. On the same day, the chief minister and Governor Kundi, along with opposition parties, held a joint press conference in which they criticised what they called unfair treatment of KP.

Describing the gas shortage as unconstitutional, the chief minister had said the provincial government could not accept what he termed illegal and unconstitutional decisions, and directed his administration not to cooperate with the federal government on directives related to gas supply.