Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) President Atif Ikram Sheikh has said that the country needs a new law for its Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to reflect the ground realities of LPG supply chain in the country and to make the regulatory environment facilitative, enabling and fair to all the stakeholders and consumers.
In a statement, Sheikh elaborated that OGRA law does not include retailers and ends with the distributors and that is the reason that so many accidents are happening at the retail level.
He said distributors should also be bound law to by provide data of their supplies to the retail shops. We need to bring all industry players under the law, make them obtain required licenses and follow the national regulations on LPG, he added.
The statement pointed out that OGRA Chairman Masroor Khan, and Karachi Commissioner Syed Hassan Ali Naqvi visited the FPCCI Head Office at Federation House on Monday to discuss the issues pertaining to enforcement of supply chain, pricing, storage, quality control and health, safety and environment regulations and standards set out for the LPG sector.
Sheikh said that FPCCI wants OGRA to control the unregulated and unlicensed players of the LPG industry as the unregulated sector is playing with the lives and livelihoods of the consumers and businesses in Pakistan. Additionally, there should be strict regulations for LPG filling stations or LPG shops to open and operate, coupled with strict standardization of LPG cylinders and their quality assurance.
OGRA chairman informed the session that the share of LPG in the national energy mix has doubled from 1 percent to 2 percent and it is expected to be rising steadily over the many years to come. We need to have world-class cylinders, bowser trucks and other related equipment manufacturing facilities in the country to match up to the fast-multiplying demand, he added.