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ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Friday said it was finalizing policy guidelines to provide natural gas to villages located within a five-kilometer radius of gas-producing fields, while approving an initial Rs200 million to begin gasification of 42 villages near the Badar Gas Field in Sindh’s Ghotki district.
The assurance came during a meeting of a subcommittee of the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum, chaired by Senator Jam Saifullah Khan, which reviewed implementation of the prime minister’s 2003 directive and Supreme Court orders requiring gas supply to eligible nearby villages.
The committee unanimously decided to give top priority to the remaining 42 villages around the Badar Gas Field. The project is estimated to cost Rs617 million.
Officials from the Petroleum Division, Finance Division and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) assured lawmakers that Rs200 million would be released immediately from a Rs1 billion allocation to launch the project.
The managing director of Sui Southern Gas Company said the utility would provide its share of funding and immediately start technical, engineering and procurement work. Project mobilization is expected to begin within 10 days of the initial fund release.
The Petroleum and Finance divisions also pledged to arrange the remaining funds without interruption to ensure timely completion.
The Petroleum Division told the committee that a comprehensive policy covering funding, implementation schedules, stakeholder commitments and timelines for all remaining eligible villages nationwide would be presented at the panel’s next meeting after consultations with relevant stakeholders.
