PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and All Pakistan CNG Association provincial chapter on Wednesday rejected the approval of the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Bill by the National Assembly and feared if the proposed law was enforced, it would adversely affect the economy of the smaller province.

Also, representatives of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, APCNGA and local industrial estates staged a demonstration outside the Peshawar Press Club against the bill’s approval and condemned PML-N and PPP for joining hands for the purpose.

In a statement issued here, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said the levy of GIDC on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other smaller provinces was discriminatory, anti-business and unjustified.

He said GIDC was being imposed for the benefit of Punjab only as other provinces were self-sufficient in gas production.

“Why gas consumers of other provinces should pay for the infrastructure to be built for Punjab province only,” he said.

CM says levy of GIDC discriminatory, undue, anti-business

Khattak said GIDC was first introduced through the GIDC Act, 2011, but it was declared illegal by the Supreme Court and that the federal government’s review petition on it was also dismissed.

He said gas was a subject covered by Part-II of the Federal Legislative List of the Constitution and therefore, the approval of GIDC bill by the Council of Common Interest was mandatory before its tabling in parliament.

The chief minister said the centre was bypassing provinces by ignoring CCI.

BUSINESS CLOSURE THREATENED: The APCNGA Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Fazal Muqeem Khan threatened to close filling stations over the levy of GIDC. “We have the only option to close our filling stations if GIDC is levied as the owners cannot pay Rs30 or 40 million tax on a filling station work Rs15 million,” APCNGA provincial president Fazal Muqeem Khan told reporters here on Wed-nesday.

He said the federal government was bent upon collecting Rs140 billion from CNG sector and fertiliser factories, while other industries had been exempted from it.

“If the proposed law is enforced, then there will be no room for CNG station owners to continue with their business,” he said.

Muqeem said GIDC was introduced in 2011 increasing the CNG price to Rs92 per kg but the price came down on the Peshawar High Court and Supreme Court orders.

He said the levy of GIDC would hit the economy of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other smaller provinces hard as they were the main producers of natural gas and that the main beneficiary of the move would be Punjab.

Other APCNGA leaders, including former president of the association Fayyaz Ahmad Khan, also declared the bill against the interests of CNG sector.

He said the association was ready to sit with the relevant officials for an agreement on the issue but the bill was unacceptable to investors of CNG sector, who wouldn’t be able to run business after its enforcement.

Meanwhile, the APCNGA on Wednesday said Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) Bill 2014 adopted by the National Assembly was discriminatory, whose enactment would ruin the already-troubled CNG sector.

“The prejudiced GIDC Act stresses on recovery of GIDC of the past years from CNG sector only while relieving other gas consuming sectors, which will trigger downfall of the shambling CNG sector,” said APCNGA leader Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha in a statement issued here.

Paracha said how CNG operators could pay GIDC when they hadn’t received it from consumers and how government could recover GIDC from CNG stations, which had been closed from seven months.

“I’m disappointed with lawmakers, who didn’t raise voice on discriminatory bill,” he said.

The APCNGA leader said the association would support the new law only if the issues of countrywide CNG operators were resolved, CNG stations in Punjab were reopened immediately and CNG price was rationalised keeping in view ground realities, including inputs and operational costs.

He said uniform cess should be imposed on all sectors and that none should be subjected to unfair treatment like recovery of cess of the previous years.

Paracha said Ogra had not reviewed CNG price for three years and hadn’t set any benchmark, while gas companies and other departments continued to get hundreds of thousands of rupees from CNG owners in Punjab as fixed charges every month despite closure of business for many months.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2015

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