LAHORE:All Pakistan LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) Distributors Association’s Chairman Irfan Khokhar Tuesday demanded of the government to help break the monopoly of few people over LPG and ensure its just and equitable distribution so that end consumers could be provided with the gas at low price.
He was talking to the office-bearers and members of Pakistan Economic Reporters Association (PERA) here at Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI). The PERA President Mazhar Iqbal and Secretary General Sheikh Rashid were prominent among others.
Irfan Khokhar disclosed to PERA that Pakistan produces 60,000 metric tons of LPG gas out of which only 10,000 metric tons is distributed and the remaining 50,000 metric tons of gas is owned by a few people. “Until this monopoly is ended and an equitable distribution formula is adopted, looting through the illusion of demand and supply will continue,” he remarked.
He mentioned that currently 288 marketing companies, 46 importers and 10 distributors are working in Pakistan, adding that if the monopoly of nine people ends, LPG can become the cheapest fuel because natural gas has a circular debt of Rs 29 billion. He claimed, “I have the formula to deliver cheap LPG from home to home, that 100 percent local gas should be added to the imported gas and then be distributed. If you calculate the price of the locally produced gas, you will see that even after giving 100 percent profit, it will be giving Rs 100 billion to government in the form of tax revenue.”
To a question, Irfan Khokhar said that 34 LPG plants are working in Lahore, and there is a law to fix the price, but no one displays the price. He said that end consumers are deprived of cheap LPG gas due to cartelization of nine people therefore change in LPG policy 2016 is the need of the hour. He said that LPG is the only fuel that can solve the shortage of gas in Pakistan, so it is necessary to adopt a strategy on the dollar model in the LPG sector.