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Govt to encourage use of LPG
in auto sector
Raja Zahid
Islamabad—Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources,
Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that wide spread use of Liquefied
Petroleum Gas (LPG) in auto sector will soften the rude impact of
rising prices of petroleum products. He stated this while
inaugurating the 2nd annual LPG conference and exhibition here on
Tuesday. Minister said that LPG is a clean, efficient and
environment friendly fuel with a wide range of applications in
commercial, industries and households.
He stated that ministry would ask the Oil and Gas Regulatory
Authority (OGRA) to rationalize the regulatory framework to
facilitate the nascent auto sector LPG usage. He reiterated that
Pakistan’s LPG sector has shown tremendous growth in terms of rising
number of LPG producers, importers, LPG marketing companies and LPG
distributors.
“Thanks to deregulation, about US$ 200 million has been invested
across the LPG value chain and given the robust growth dynamics of
the sector, more investment are expected to continue” he added. He
said that ministry is looking forward to additional investments in
setting up of dedicated LPG auto-gas stations and LPG production
plants, which are dormant for the moment, so that the ungasified
areas are served in the like manner.
He said that it has been noted that LPG availability has been
confined to urban centers, despite government’s clear objectives and
directives to supply mandatory quota to the Northern hilly areas,
AJK, interior Sindh and Baluchistan and FATA. ‘It seems that LPG
marketing companies are not faithfully implementing these policy
measures and the regulatory mechanism of OGRA is also nor pursuing
the defaulting LPG marketing companies’ he noted.
He maintained that LPG consumer prices are normally not stable due
to demand supply gap, in this connection the focus of the government
will be realize additional LPG production from the developing gas
fields. Minister urged upon OGRA to step up activities to check the
malpractices of decanting, under-filling and cross filling of LPG
cylinders to save the life, limb and property of the LPG users. He
also urged the LPG marketing companies to fulfill their corporate
social responsibilities and must concentrate on the economy of scale
for earning their profit.
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