Against the first billed installment of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) of Rs. 20.5 billion, the government has only been able to collect Rs. 3.25 billion from various consumers.
Following the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s (SCP) decision to collect GIDC from various sectors, the petroleum division had directed various gas suppliers to start the collection of the arrears from their Industrial and commercial consumers in installments. As a result, the total bills of the first installment came about to be Rs. 20.5 billion, which were sent to the gas consumers.
Various sectors including fertilizer companies, government power companies, IPPs, K-Electric, general industry, gas companies owe this amount to the government.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mushir Alam ordered the companies to pay the outstanding amount of Rs. 417 billion in lieu of GIDC and said that the government will collect the amount in 24 installments. ProPakistani covered the judgment in detail. However, the first installment’s collection has been less than 16 percent.
According to media reports, one of the reasons for such low collection is that some major gas consumers have filed review petitions in the Supreme Court against the collection of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC). Some other consumers have also appealed in their respective High Courts for the recalculation of the GIDC amount.
It was being expected that the collection of this first installment will be completed by September 2020 and that the collected amount will then be used to develop gas infrastructure projects in the country.
