ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The SNGPL and SSGCL have provided gas connections to 775,821 new domestic consumers during the last two years and 412,058 would be given during the fiscal year 2016-17, official sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said Tuesday.
They said 493,522 gas connections were given in Punjab, 85,790 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 158,886 in Sindh, 19,526 in Balochistan, 17, 278 in Islamabad Capital Territory and 819 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) were providing gas connections to domestic consumers on a prescribed application performa, the sources told the state-run news agency.
During next financial year, they informed that the companies would give 412,058 new gas connections across the country.
Answering a question, they claimed, the ministry had not installed even a single gas meter in violation of merit and rules, saying the gas companies only provided legal connections as per turn and merit criteria.
They said the present government was religiously following the policy of merit under which new gas connections for domestic consumers were being given without any discrimination.
As per the policy, they said, it took around six months to process an application for a domestic connection. Its urgent fee was Rs 25,000 and the meter was installed after a three-month period, they added.
Replying to a question, they said, new gas connections and gas projects for localities were two different things.
Elaborating, they said, the new connections were given as per the policy and where transmission lines were already existed, while new gas projects could not be initiated in the country under a Federal Cabinet moratorium imposed in 2011 due to shortage of the commodity in the country.
“However If any parliamentarian want to get the project for any scheme, it will need lifting of the moratorium or to pay the required amount,” the sources added.
