ISLAMABAD: Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is adamant to c
omplete Murree air mix LPG plant under the vigilance of regulatory authorities which called it unviable and unfeasible, Daily Times learnt.
The Rs 15 billion p
roject would be c
ompleted at the cost of the country’s deprived areas, a source in the ministry said.
The p
roject is a move to facilitate the aristocrat
s of the country who have set up their homes in the hill station.
Murree is the petroleum minister’s constituency who wants to strengthen his grip on the city by c
ompleting the p
roject.
A
report compiled by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority said a similar plants were set up in Quetta and Larkana in 1990.
“The plants caused huge loss to our national kitty because these plants met with worsened fate and miserably failed and could not come up to the expectation adhered with them and at the end these p
rojects were closed by the petroleum ministries.”
OGRA also told the minister that former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain also tried to establish such a plant in Kot Lakhpat, Lahore but the p
roject was shelved after OGRA officials termed it unfeasi
ble.
An OGRA official told the minister that the Murree p
roject was unfeasible and these funds should be allocated to other gas-starved area
s of the country.
The OGRA official advised the ministry to spend these funds on LPG cylinders so that the people from hilly areas could get cheap gas.
The regulatory authority officials also said Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were blessed with huge national resources and wealth, but they had not started such expensive p
rojects.
The regulatory authority told the government that it should enhance the supply of LPG to the areas where it is being used as main source of fuel.
The p
roject is started on political reasons which could go awry in the future and could become another mega scam in the ministry which has already brimmed with huge corruption stories.
The source said OGRA is now under the minister’s control and the
report submitted on the p
roject could be altered with the people who are dancing at the tune
s of the ministry but it is fact that such p
rojects in Pakistan are not via
ble.
A lawmaker from Jhelum said the government is going to spend huge funds on the Murree LPG air mix plant but on the other hand Tehsil headquarters Dina, a city of more than 2 million people, is without natural gas.
He said Murree had been supplied with natural gas and now
reportedly the petroleum minister is going to spend another billion rupees on the p
roject only to cement his grip on the constituency.
Talking to Daily Times, Abbasi said come what may, the p
roject would be c
ompleted as it has already been approved by the ECC , CCI and federal cabinet.
He said, “We will give equal share to all federal units but starting from our own home because the people from Murree and its suburb areas are paying huge cost on gas cylinders for the last many years which is 5 times higher than the people paid from fuel starved areas.”
He said the total cost of the p
roject is Rs 50 million for 6000 people which is less than transmission pipeline cost and added the distribution cost of the p
roject is the same.
He said the difference in LPG and gas cost is recovered partly from the consumer through higher tariff and partly from GDS and there is no financial burden on other gas consumers.