KARACHI – Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, President FPCCI, has said that the failure of the government to provide gas to the industry has caused unbearable losses; and, the country is losing its momentum of productivity, export orders, employment generation and it will reflect badly on the growth rate of the current fiscal year.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo also demanded that the Government of Pakistan and PM Imran Khan should reprimand the relevant ministries and departments responsible for the gas crisis; as, in his opinion, it is a conspiracy against his government. He added that investigations can point towards one of its own ministries, which is facilitating new terminals at the cost of the national interest of Pakistan and causing the destruction of industrial production; which is the backbone of foreign exchange earnings and exports of Pakistan.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo maintained that it is an open secret that there is surplus capacity in the existing LNG terminals and distribution network; however, no professional planning and preparatory arrangements were made to avert or even lessen the inevitable gas crisis that has struck the industry like never before in the ongoing winters.
FPCCI Chief added that he is not against setting up of new LNG terminals; nonetheless, it appears that the current crisis is being portrayed as the result of lack of LNG infrastructure, which is not true. In fact, there is so much shortage of the gas that a huge part of the capacity of the LNG terminals is currently underutilized, he added.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo stated that their is a need to import a bigger capacity Floating Regasification Storage Unit (FSRU) ship to add larger volumes of gas to the gas distribution infrastructure and supply the required gas to the industries at the earliest. FSRU is an established, proven, fast-track and world-class solution for LNG imports and supplies, he added. It was heard that an LNG terminal had also proposed a 600 mmcfd FSRU ship earlier; but, it was turned down and the government settled for a much smaller FSRU of 400 mmcfd. Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo also expressed his shock that CNG association in Sindh has gone on strike; but, the government is not even contacting or listening to their concerns. First, their livelihoods have been jeopardized and now they are being neglected and their voice is not being heard.
