CNG owners complain of competition, heavy costs

RAWALPINDI: CNG gas station owners on Monday said that they were not in a position to run business due to heavy operational cost and tough competition.

�I spent my whole life saving money and took loan from a bank to install a CNG station, but these days I am even unable to earn the profit I would have earned by simply depositing the money in the bank,� Sohail Ahmed Qureshi, managing partner of a private CNG station at Asghar Mall, told Daily Times. He said he spent Rs 2.5 million on installation of two dispensers, Rs 5 million on compressor machine, while power and gas connections and miscellaneous expenditure cost him Rs 15 million.

He said the authorities took kickbacks and issued licenses for CNG stations without any planning or considering any rule or maintaining a safe distance between two CNG stations. �Now there are more then seven CNG stations between Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Road and Asghar Mall,� he said.

He said most CNG stations at Asghar Mall, Saidpur Road and Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Road were so close that they shared boundary walls. �It is very difficult to pay salaries to staff. Despite having good equipment, demand is very low,� said owner of a station at Saidpur Road. He said there were more then ten CNG stations on a three-km stretch of Saidpur Road. He criticised the OGRA for issuing licenses in bulk. Malik Zulfiqar, owner of a CNG station at Commercial Market, said more then seven CNG stations were set up in the market.

He said salaries of the staff, increased gas and power bills and taxes had made it hard for him to run business. It has been witnessed that most stations in these areas have had fewer customers.

OGRA: The OGRA officials showed the other side of the story. �There were only 105 CNG stations till 2004. Then, this business was so profitable that it was estimated that the total investment is returned in six months to one year. Later the number of investors increased and more stations came in,� an OGRA official said. He said there were more then 200 CNG stations in the city, whereas many applications for new stations were lying pending with the OGRA.

He admitted that kickbacks were an integral part of the process for issuing licences. Unlike petrol pumps, no distance had been maintained between CNG stations due to high demand and the culture of kickbacks. He said CNG stations were installed in thickly populated residential areas without taking any safety measures.