January 24, 2023 (MLN): The Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices hit their highest level in Pakistan's history on Tuesday, reaching Rs300 per kg across the country, Mr. Irfan Khokhar, Chairman of the LPG Distributors Association of Pakistan said in a press conference today.

At present, the price of domestic cylinders increased by Rs235 to Rs3,550, and the price of commercial cylinders climbing by Rs908 to reach a high level of Rs13,620.

He regretfully said, “the OGRA set the LPG price at Rs300 per kg, but the government-owned SSGC has increased the price to Rs300 per kg.”

Mr. Khokhar said that in the ongoing crisis, the state-owned gas company has become a mafia, which is making illegal profits of Rs100,000 per tonne of LPG, and as 5,000 tonnes of LPG are being sold in the country every day the mafia and black marketers are minting millions, the statement read.

He further informed, “The country is facing the worst economic crisis apart from the dollar shortage, and in these circumstances, measures of greater self-reliance by getting rid of the mafia are very necessary.”

The LPG Industries chief said that Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL) has been closed for the last 31 months.

If JJVL is made operational, it will end the mafia's monopoly by obtaining production of 550 MT to 750 MT of LPG per day in the country, he noted.

“LPG can be imported for consumers at a fixed government price. Irfan Khokhar said that due to the 31-month closure of JJVL, the government has suffered a loss of Rs157 billion so far in terms of revenue.”

He said that SSGC continues to lobby for the permanent closure of JJVL to continue its monopoly and black marketing in the local market.

The country currently has only 2000 metric tons of LPG production while the consumption has crossed 5000 tons.

In this way, 60% of the country has become dependent on imported LPG. Irfan Khokhar said that due to astronomical prices, LPG has become beyond the reach of consumers, it added.

He said that a nationwide protest against the high price of LPG and black marketing has been started from today and an ultimatum of four days is being given, otherwise the sale of LPG in the entire country including Karachi will be on a complete halt from January 28.

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Posted on: 2023-01-24T15:38:28+05:00