Month: May 2021

Pipeline capacities for LNG terminal sponsors ordered

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ISLAMABAD: The Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Thursday directed the Sui gas companies — SNGPL and SSGCL — to immediately allocate pipeline capacities to the sponsors of two upcoming terminal of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for them to proceed with the final investment decision (FID) and financial closure. In a joint letter written to the managing directors of SSGCL, SNGPL and the two LNG terminal developers, Ogra reminded that on Feb 23, 2021, the Cabinet Commi­ttee on Energy (CCoE) had already decided on the issue of pipeline capacity…

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Circular debt—myth and reality

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Pakistan-power-sector-target-of-ADB-funding

We all know that the main reason for the forced increase in base power tariff is the “tsunami” of expensive and excess power capacity contracted by the previous PML government on “take or pay” basis that has hit the sector hard. The previous government also did not pass on any tariff increase in its last years and left that burden to this government. Due to Covid-19, no increase in base tariff was allowed by the PTI government in 2020 to avoid burdening the consumers (which inevitably added to the circular…

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Pakistan’s long term-nuclear energy programme

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Energy plays a vital role in the development of a country. A country’s progress is also estimated by its energy demand and consumption. At present Pakistan has an installed generation capacity of about 37,500MW. The minimum total demand is about 24,000MW whereas the maximum total demand in summers is enhanced to nearly 29,000MW. The country’s transmission and distribution capacity, however, is only approximately 22,000MW. This results in hours of electricity outrages in the hot summer months. Besides that, over 50 million people are not connected to the national grid and…

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CPEC — facts and fog

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Last week, in “CPEC: Understanding the Behemoth — Facts and Myth”, we covered the conceptual framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This week, we continue to discuss the ‘eight core areas’ of the agreed CPEC architecture. CPEC has strong focus on social development, population welfare and poverty alleviation along its command areas… unlike any other programme of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank etc. The first core area deals with the ‘integrated transportation system’, including construction/development of Kashghar-Islamabad, Peshawar-Islamabad-Karachi, Sukkur-Gwadar and Dera Ismail Khan-Quetta-Sorab-Gwadar road infrastructure. CPEC will…

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Fertiliser industry asks govt to rationalise GST, release Rs57bln refunds

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Fertiliser industry has urged the federal government to clear its pending refunds of Rs57 billion and provide relief to the sector in its upcoming budget by rationalising general sales tax (GST) for ease of doing business.https://1d9e23587209037635570b7739e57643.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html The industry also demanded for rationalising of input-output adjustment formula of the GST. Presently, fertiliser manufacturers are paying input at 5-17 percent of GST rate and collecting GST on output at 2 percent. This was resulting in approximately Rs7 to Rs8 billion annual unadjusted input sales tax for the sector. According to the budget…

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