After a major breakthrough in the form of China, Pakistan Economic Corridor, the government has successfully persuaded Russia to help build a gas infrastructure project in the country. The Pakistan-Iran Gas Pipeline Project is also in the pipeline and the work on it will be resumed in the near future. The government has also signed a deal with Qatar to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the country. A project to construct Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India is also in the pipeline to bridge the gas shortage. Pakistan has been in the grip of severe energy crisis for the last two decades which has adversely affected industrial sector of the country, pushing the economy down to the lowest ebb. According to statics, the total demand of gas in the country is 8 BCFD against production of 4 BCFD and the government has to opt for load-management to ensure gas supply to different sectors. Punjab faces acute gas shortage in winter after gas supply to industrial, fertiliser and CNG outlets remains suspended while 3 days-a-week gas is supplied to the industrial sector and CNG outlets in Sindh. Though Punjab’s share in gas production is only 5 percent, it consumes 44 percent of the national gas.
Keeping in view the situation, Pakistan and Russia have signed an agreement, envisaging the construction of 1,100 kilometer gas pipeline from Karachi to Lahore for transportation of imported LNG. The project will be completed at a cost of $2 billion. Under the project, at least 12.4 billion cubic feet LNG per annum will be transported to Punjab half of which will be used in fertiliser and industrial sectors and another half will be diverted to a power plant to generate 3,600 megawatt of electricity. The government has already started construction of the first LNG terminal at Port Qasim with a capacity of handling 600 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) of LNG to be completed in 2017 and another terminal with a capacity of 500 MMCFD of gas will be completed by 2018.
Now what the industrial stakeholders fear is the rampant corruption in the country which can affect the quality of work and increased cost of the project. The government will have to ensure that no red-tape should come in the way of these projects which could transfigure the energy landscape of the country. The government should also ensure that all the proposed projects are completed within its tenure as the slow pace of work not only increases the cost of the projects but also delays the chances of economic prosperity.
