AGAIN the country has been hit hard by gas crisis. The sufferers indeed are both domestic and industrial consumers. Announcements are made in advance warning the people to get ready for gas crisis in winter season yet no one is ready to answer as why fuel is not being imported in sufficient quantity to meet domestic demand.
As a result of gas shortages, CNG stations providing less expensive fuel to vehicles have been shut while domestic consumers are compelled to purchase expensive LPG cylinders due to very low pressure of natural gas provided by gas companies. Nobody knows how many more years this situation will persist. Hardly a decade ago the country was self sufficient in natural gas and it will not be wrong to say that people misused this cheap source of energy but at the same time nothing concrete was done on part of successive governments to push up domestic gas production to cater to growing population. The result is that today we are forced to import gas from other countries. In a statement, a spokesperson for ministry of energy said government has arranged twelve liquefied natural gas cargoes for January. Since demand of gas increases in winter season, therefore, it is important for relevant quarters to take timely decisions in this regard.
Time has come to give serious consideration to address energy woes of the country. Firstly, there is need to accelerate work on trans-national gas pipeline projects such as TAPI and the one with Iran. According to international assessment, Balochistan offers great potential for oil and gas sector and since the situation stands much improved there, focus should be further exploration to bolster domestic production, as it is the only way we can provide cheap energy to our people. Pilferage and theft of gas also needs to be checked thoroughly. Most importantly, we also need to exploit alternative sources. Since the country is now producing sufficient electricity, we need to educate our people to shift to electric appliances to bring down demand of gas. It is responsibility of the government to ensure availability of such appliances at reasonable rates by providing incentives to those investing in manufacturing of such equipment.
