ISLAMABAD: A Senate panel on Thursday gave nod to a revision in the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) which would permit the government to recover around Rs12 billion receivables owed by CNG stations.
The Senate standing committee on petroleum chose PTI Senator Mohsin Aziz as the Chairman who then chaired the meeting and apprised its members about the background of GIDC bill, reported Dawn.
Senate panel was apprised that CNG stations had been collecting GIDC from consumers under GIDC Act 2015 via sale price of CNG issued by the Oil and Gast Regulatory Authority.
In August last year, it was reported GIDC Act 2015 was to undergo revisions by the incumbent government, which would allow waiver half of cess arrears amounting into billions of rupees owed by the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector.
All Pakistan CNG Association Chairman, Abdullah Paracha then disclosed they had reached an agreement with Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and the petroleum ministry to pay Rs12b on account of GIDC.
Rs12b is half the amount owed by the CNG sector for the provision of gas supply to their filing stations said a senior official of OGRA. This payment of Rs12b covers the period of Jan 2012 to May 22nd, 2015.
GIDC Act 2011 which was passed by Parliament a few years ago for raising money to establish pipelines created a huge furore and this surcharge got challenged in various courts because its impact originally was not being passed onto consumers.
Although the gas prices reflect the cess surcharge and are being collected by CNG stations as per law, the payments have been withheld and haven’t been deposited with Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) due to courts stay orders. SSGC and SNGPL are then required to deposit this cess payment into the federal kitty.
CNG industry was said to have already paid Rs19b under GIDC and now Rs12b will be paid for the period of Jan 2012 to May 22nd,2015.
