ISLAMABAD: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Company Limited (SNGPL) has so far issued around one million new gas connections, since the current government took over in the year 2013.
“The company has given gas connections to one million consumers during tenure of the present government on merit – the first come and first served,” official sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said while talking to APP.
They said that the company was making all-out efforts to clear backlog of the gas meter applications, saying that at present new gas connections were being issued to those applicants who applied in the year 2013. They expressed confidence that the company would clear the backlog up to the applications of 2015 during the current fiscal year. Answering a question, the sources informed that SNGPL and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) would give around 412,058 new gas connections across the country during the fiscal year 2016-17.
Besides, they said that the gas companies would invest Rs13,896 million on transmission projects, Rs32,739 million on distribution projects and Rs24,408 million on other projects, bringing the total investment of Rs71,043 million next year. Commenting on the companies’ last year performance, they said SNGPL and SSGCL had laid 116 kilometer gas transmission network, 1,848 kilometer distribution, 679 kilometer service lines and connected 203 villages and towns to gas network.
During the period, they said, the utility companies invested Rs9,959 million on transmission projects, Rs8,705 million on distribution projects and Rs13,705 on other projects bringing total investment to about Rs31,919 million. The sources said 48 percent energy-mix needs of the country were being met through natural gas, adding that the country had an extensive gas network of over 11,538 kilometer transmission, 1,14,982 kilometer distribution and 31,058 kilometer services gas pipelines to serve more than 7.9 million consumers.
