Natural gas for captive power plants — I

Engr. Ainul Abedin

Karachi

Extensive coverage on the subject issue, “No gas for captive power plants” (BR Jan 30) editorial, “Textile and gas love affair to end” (BR Jan 29), “Captive to grid: Tread carefully” (BR Jan 26), Markets & Corporates section, all point to the “gas usage issues”, though really speaking, there should be no issue at all!

The industries and commercial buildings have been sanctioned natural gas by SSGC and SNGPL on very specific requirements of efficient utilization of this clean fuel through cogeneration and even now, the efficient use of this convenient and eco-friendly fuel for such utilization is allowed for the overall benefit of the country as co-generation ensures huge benefits to the country’s economic and environmental goals.

It is the industrial and commercial sector which have, unfortunately, failed in large number of cases to honour their commitment for gas utilization. The present genuine objective of the Government is to ensure efficient utilization of our resources and if the business community only follows the basic requirements of efficiency, the country as a whole will benefit as well as the “cost of doing business” will reduce with increased profit for the concerned industries and commercial sectors!

(To be continued tomorrow)