Government should take measures to stop smuggled-in Petrol: Mian Zahid Hussain

President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said below standard petrol utilization in Pakistan causes heavy damages to vehicles, environment and human health.

The low standard petrol is majorly smuggled in from Iran, which is abundantly available across the Country. Low quality petrol utilization is a serious threat to vehicles’ estimated life in addition to environmental and human safety. Government should take immediate and concrete measures to stop inward smuggling of petrol.

Mian Zahid Hussain said RON-87 is being sold in Pakistan petrol as a standard which is in accordance to EURO-II standard, however, the same is being used for the past 20 years while the rest of the World had been moved forward with the technological evolution. The quality standard for petrol is required to be revised in Pakistan in accordance to geographical and vehicles’ need in the Country. In most of the countries RON-91 is the minimum standard for normal petrol while the premium quality varies from RON 90-110.

The veteran business leader said in India the standard for petrol is RON-91 but they manufacture small cars which are designed to avoid knocking problems on low RON. Our government, which is aware of the cars being used in Pakistan, can establish a minimum RON level which would suit most cars. If most people have cars under 1000cc, anything more than 92 RON would suffice, but if there’s a majority of people using cars with a powerful engine, then another standard with a greater RON value should also be made available.

The former minister said government asked the oil companies to upgrade their refineries and replace the below standard petrol with a higher one, although with a higher price tag. The local oil refineries called the task completely impossible before 2019. They haven’t even started any upgrades yet and it could take some time before they even begin such a project. It would take about 3 years plus millions of dollars of investment for the refineries to get the upgrade. Pakistan imports a major share of petrol to fulfil its demand and supply gap and directly importing higher grade petrol would be a feasible interim option.

He said that since last year Pakistan has started importing improved-quality diesel that meets Euro-II emission standards however the rest of the World has reached to EURO-V while China has adopted Lead free standard of diesel. Pakistan needs to step-forward and compete with the World in the race of development.