Amraiz Khan
Pakistan LPG Marketers Association (PLGPMA) has urged the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives (Energy Wing) to re-address genuine reservations of the domestic LPG industry. In a letter, written to the Planning Commission, Ministry of Planning, Development & Special initiatives (Energy Wing), Chairman PLPGMA Farooq Iftikhar said that the domestic LPG industry has great concerns on the recommendations prepared by the Energy Wing, Planning Commission that must be addressed in the larger interest of the economy. Farooq Iftikhar said that domestic producer price to be determined through auctions with a ceiling price of prevailing month Saudi Aramco CP. Without the ceiling price, larger companies with deep pockets and geared towards imports will drive the price higher for the end users and crowd out the smaller companies. He said that GST on local LPG must be reduced to 10% and PDL to be maintained at current level of Rs.4,669 per MT.
This will allow for equalization of price viz a viz imports as almost 90% of product imported into Pakistan is of Iranian origin and is delivered at CP minus price to Karachi Port and Taftan Border. However, to encourage import and reduce its price the 5.5% advance income tax should be abolished. He said that Moratorium on refueling of PSV’s at Autogas stations should be immediately lifted as the new policy will encourage imports and the use of this clean fuel in Automobile sector needs to be encouraged. This is also the only way to curb accidents associated with illegal decanting.
Chairman PLPGMA said that applying extra duties and taxes in any form only on the locally produced LPG are not in the best interest of the local industry and in our opinion will discourage expansion of local production by producers, which will severely hamper the energy security of the country. He hoped that the Ministry of Planning, Development & Social Initiatives would rectify the things immediately and stop favoring imports over local production.
