Islamabad: Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar on Wednesday directed the district administrations to launch crackdown against illegal Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations in residential areas.
He was responding to a supplementary question raised by Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan during the Question-Hour session in the National Assembly regarding mushrooming of CNG stations especially in residential areas in violation of the government policy. There should be crackdown against CNG stations operating in residential areas. These must be closed, he said.
Qamar said Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority issues licenses for opening up new CNG stations, while the district governments were bound to keep check on establishing unlawful outlets.
The minister also clarified that the government had not increased gas prices for last seven to eight months.
He said efforts were being made to lay gas pipelines in newly built housing colonies and the villages where transmission lines had already been laid, adding that main gas pipelines network remarkably expanded during last three years.
Naveed Qamar said the government had taken several steps to further enhance exploration activities in the country and it awarded exploration licences for 31 blocks during last year.
He said Petroleum Policy 2009 had been promulgated wherein further incentives have been provided to attract local and multi-national companies for investment in oil and gas sector.
He said presently 136 national and foreign companies were operating in different areas of the country.
Tight gas policy has been sent to Council of Common Interest for approval, which offers more incentives, the Minister said.
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