In 2007, former President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf inaugurated Liquid Gas Plant at Ghatti Dhor in Gwadar. At the occasion, he said, “Soon the whole city of Gwadar will have gas supply.” Nearly a decade onwards, there is still no Sui Gas supply in Gwadar.
Currently, a single gas plant operates in Gwadar. This plant lacks a direct supply from Sui gas fields and is rather refilled with gas transported from Karachi via road. The supply from this plant is available to residents of the Fish Harbor Road in Gwadar, going all the way to the Port. The rest of the city, which is an overwhelming majority, has no access whatsoever to this gas and have to rely on using wood and Iranian gas cylinders for their fuel needs.
The problem is compounded further by the fact that the Iranian gas costs 120 rupees per kilogram, which is a very steep price tag compared to Sui gas expenses. According to the website of Gwadar Development Authority, ‘Gwadar district has no gas supply and that LPG is available to the citizens.’
Recently, Sui Southern Company has started laying gas pipeline in the Ghatti Dor area of Gwadar. At the inauguration of the pipeline, Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) leader Maulana Abdul Hadi said, “This pipeline is the outcome of the efforts of JUI’s federal Minister for Postal Services Abdul Ghafoor Haidari.”
Local MNA Essa Noori, who hails from BNP-Mengal party, says that the current coalition government has stopped giving funds to the representatives from Gwadar. He says that right now, neither of the provincial or federal government are ready to work on the issue.
Translated from: PakVoices Gwadar website
