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Gas Price issue Sindh at loggerheads with federation indh’s government is once again at the loggerheads with the federal government on the issue of price of natural gas and heater share of indigenous gas to Sindh province as it was the biggest producer of natural gas in the country. SSindh Energy Minister, Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh in his letter to Federal Min- ister for Energy Hammad Azhar clarified that the Government of Sindh does not support and rejects any attempt to alter the present arrangement of WACOG for natural gas produced in the country. After a zoom meeting with Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Development and special Initiative Khalid Mansoor and Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Power Mr Tabish Gohar, provincial minster for Energy Imtiaz Shaikh said that any attempt to add RLNG in the present WACOG prices with any ring-fenced options with Tier-I consumers of indigenous natural gas would phenomenally elevate the gas prices upward which is detrimental to and adversely impact domestic, commercial, industrial and CNG sector consumers in Sindh. He requested federal govt. to refrain from adding RLNG price with present WACOG pricing mechanism of indigenous natural gas. As per existing practice, RLNG consumers (i-e Tier-1) shall continue to be ring fenced and kept separate from the regular consumers (i-e Tier-1) ut demands that constitutional rights of the people of Sindh for priority over utilization of natural gas from the wellheads located in the province, in pursuance of Article 158 of the Constitution of Pakistan, shall be safeguarded in letter and spirit. He added that the natural gas allocation quota of Sindh in the SSGCL sys- tem shall be increased so that people of the province can reap the economic benefits of indigenous natural gas. Imtiaz Sha that the natural gas consumers in Sindh shall also be provided with the proportional cost subsidy for the quantity of gas produced in the province, over which Sindh has the first right of utilization, but supplied to other parts and also utilized in power generation which is added in the national grid and production of fertilizer whose benefits are enjoyed by entire country, so, people of Sindh may adequately be compensated for the portion of the gas which is supplied into other parts or utilized for the purposes whose benefits are spread over entire country either by providing subsidy in natural gas or power tariffs or subsidy in fertilizer prices. He said that SSGCL may also be directed to complete all gasification schemes which are pending since 2010 whose construction cost has already been paid Government of Sindh and it shall also be directed to accept new gasification schemes which is being refused since last over five years despite Govemment's assurance of payment of cost over and above per Customer cost criteria fixed by OGRA. Imtiaz Shaikh said that SSGCL may further be directed not to carryout load-shedding in Sindh for the consumers of gas especially industrial and CNG. Besides energy sector, Sindh government was also defying federal govern- ment on various issues including one-syllabus education system. INDEPENDENCE DAY Afshan Subohi They have seen several bouts of turmoil in the justice and environmental sustainability. past, but still managed to do better. So what’s As far as the single biggest hurdle on wrong here? the path to development is concerned, the akistan turned 74 last week. It has ‘Pakistan’s Olympic squad had eight consensus has yet to emerge. Most economists, travelled a long distance since then, athletes and 24 officials; the ratio 8:24 explains thought leaders, and business representatives but, with 8.5 million people current- clearly why the country is where it is,’ says Dr reached to identify the single most important ly unemployed and around 40 per Nadeem ul Haq drag on development were either reluctant cent surviving below the poverty Experts have traced Pakistan’s economic or confused. Many identified a mix of factors Pline, its economic performance has been far trajectory based on documented facts and responsible for the laggard pace of growth. from being enviable. identified bottlenecks impeding development. Dr Nadeem ul Haq, Former deputy Pakistan ranked a low 129th amongst It might have improved the understanding chairman of the Planning Commission and 193 UN member states in the 2021 Sustainable of economic history, but seems to have done Vice-Chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Report, slipping 14 steps in five little to chart out a course for the future. It is Development Economics (PIDE), who revit- years since 2016. Pakistanis deserve better. relevant to mention that all three major polit- alised the dormant premier institution and What has kept the fifth most populous nation ical parties — PPP, PML-N and PTI — drew initiated a public debate on critical subjects, which is naturally resourceful, geographically on the work done on the subject and global felt that “policies and projects have both well-positioned, and harbouring a 990km hot conventions evolved over the years. They have failed us”. He lamented the lack of water coastline, from realising its potential? broadly similar positions on the economy interest in re-visiting and revising the Was there a systemic fault, mishan- though they differ in their order of priorities. current approach. He was critical of dling of national diversity, weak institu- They all commit to a market-based economy an overarching state. tional setting, capacity deficit, deep-seated for capital formation and promise to limit the To hammer this point, he corruption, culture of patronage, political government’s role to guarantee a level playing recalled Pakistan’s participation immaturity, democratic miscarriages, fragile field in a conducive business environment. legal framework, some genetic flaw in the They pledge to ensure rule-based governance citizenry, incompetent political and corpo- in order to keep dominant players from abus- rate leadership, archaic power structure or a ing their positions and to achieve distributive delusional economic policy framework compromising the very fundamentals of market economy? Better performing peers, like India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Brazil, South Africa, and South Korea, are all inflicted with their own complex sets of problems. 08 ENERGY UPDATE and performance record in the recent Tokyo flounder”. NAB investigations, gross mismanagement of Olympics. “Pakistan’s Olympic squad had He mentioned the growth rates of India agriculture and last, but not the least, knee- eight athletes and 24 officials, no medals, only and China of yore. “Double-digit growth in jerk changes in policies for short-term revenue one sportsman shone in Javelin, but without India and China were unimaginable 40 years objectives, mostly overburdening existing government’s support. Even Qatar, the size of back. It was only when they finally embraced taxpayers, given the weak political will, and so a minor Pakistani city, won two gold medals. the market economy and opened up for inter- far the ability, to broaden the tax base.” The ratio 24:8 explains clearly why Pakistan is national trade the pace of development gained Identifying weak data resulting in the where it is.” momentum. Pakistani economy has to break mismatch of demand and supply leading to He was critical of what he calls the free of the political shackles for the sake of the poor policy decisions, he mentioned the energy ‘brick-and-mortar’ approach to development. future of the teeming millions,” he stressed. sector. He recalled times when the “Planning “Without systematic cost-benefit analysis, Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, President of Commission was a model that other countries we build roads and bridges on the whims of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Com- emulated, notably South Korea and Malay- leaders to the benefit of the contractors, losing merce and Industry responded thus: “In simple sia”. Fragmentation of authority between the control over time and expense.” words, it is the tax policy, tax collection inves- federation and provinces on the one hand and Dr Rashid Amjad, an economist and a tigation, prosecution and adjudication with between the various federal ministries on the former PIPDE vice-chancellor, talked about one agency — the Federal Board of Revenue — other, he said, created complexity and slowed the “low level of investment in both physical that held development hostage”. down decision-making. and human capital by businesses despite earn- Some leading economists blamed insta- “Investment, especially in the new sec- ing high profits”. He blamed the 1992 PML-N bility. Dr Ali Cheema, an economist associated tors, has been thwarted by lack of policy con- government for relaxing rules for transferring with multiple elite institutions, was one of sistency… hence, exports have suffered from foreign exchange abroad that continue to date them. “Political instability and the failure of low value-addition. Ominously, over half of our with minor adjustments. He saw business ‘ma- state institutions to develop a consensus on exports are in categories for which global de- fias’ controlling and manipulating output and fundamental reforms of the governance system mand is declining. It is premature to celebrate and the economy are the reasons,” he said. recent upsurge in exports which is principally Dr Nadeem Javed, a former chief econo- due to the diversion of orders from Bangladesh mist of the Planning Commission, concurred. and India because of the Covid pandemic rath- “Political instability ruptured the natural er than gains in our competitiveness.” He was process of nation-building and resultantly critical of weak economic diplomacy costing we lagged behind.” the country dearly and mentioned free trade Ehsan Malik, CEO, Pakistan agreements that serve partners better. Business Council, emailed a detailed “The narrative on foreign direct invest- response that was difficult to ment (FDI) is misplaced.

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