ISLAMABAD, Jan 15: Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance Shaukat Tarin on Thursday refused to commit to the All Pakistan CNG Association that the government would take back its decision of 10 per cent increase in prices of com-pressed natural gas applicable from Jan 1.

“It was a fruitless meeting,” central vice-president of the association Ghayas Paracha told Dawn after the association’s meeting with Mr Tarin.

He said the association postponed its countrywide strike over the latest increase in the rate of CNG till its office bearers meet Adviser to the Prime Minister on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain on Friday.

This will be the second such meeting this week. The last meeting was held on Tuesday.

The adviser in the last meeting had asked the ministry of petroleum and the CNG association to come up with their detailed reports, which must contain facts and figures on the issue.

The meeting with Mr Tarin did not make any headway as the adviser was of the view that for the time-being prices of CNG could not be decreased but a committee could be formed to propose a reduction in its price in case crude oil prices further declined in the international market.

The proposal of the adviser, Mr Paracha said, was not acceptable to the association, which needed immediate relief.

The association had demanded the government that the CNG sector should be treated as an industry and that the raise in its price of gas should not be more than that of the industry, which is around 2.3 per cent this time.

In the Friday’s meeting, the association and the ministry will discuss their reports on the CNG price hike with the adviser and come up with a solution to the issue.

The association’s figures show that at present it was paying Rs427 per Million British Thermal Unit (MMBTU) of gas compared to Rs338 per mmbtu being paid by the industrial sector. There is a difference of Rs89 per unit.

Mr Paracha said till 2007, the government considered the CNG sector as an industry and the rise in gas price for the CNG sector was almost the same as that of the general industry. But, last year, the government started deviating from its policy slowly by putting slightly more burden on the CNG sector, when it came to the increase in gas prices.

But, now the government’s decision of 10 per cent increase in CNG prices, which was four times more than that of the industrial sector, was unacceptable.

He said in Pakistan 180 million cubic feet (mcf) of gas was being consumed by the CNG fitted vehicles on daily basis. On yearly basis, the gas consumed by the CNG sector was equal to 14.7 billion litres of petrol, which showed that the government had been relieved of the burden of importing more petrol by the CNG sector.

Mr Paracha said that Pakistan’s refinery capacity was less than the petrol requirement of the country and if the CNG was made costlier than petrol, all the burden would fall on the refineries as the country would need 14.7 billion litres extra petrol every year.

When people started investing in the CNG sector more than a decade ago, the government had promised to keep the CNG price 50 per cent lower than that of petrol because gas was a local product, he added.