As if the ongoing summer electricity loadshedding gripping the country for the past few weeks was not enough, distribution of gas across the country has been suspended to businesses and CNG outlets for the next six days following a severe shortage and low pressure in the system. This sudden and drastic drop in gas availability is not due to high demand, as is usually the case in winters when loadshedding becomes necessary, but rather appears to be a result of poor management and untimely decision-making. A combination of unplanned dry docking and shutting down of domestic gas fields for annual turnaround (regular maintenance) simultaneously has led to this supply crisis, with the country witnessing a complete closure of gas supply in June for the first time ever. While the duration of the suspension of gas supply is not that long and some industries like export will be exempt, a number of businesses will suffer considerable financial losses as they run their units on more expensive energy sources. To bridge the energy deficit, the government will have to burn furnace oil, prices for which have recovered from the crash of 2020, making it an expensive purchase and a drain on the exchequer that could very well have been avoided. What makes the timing of this bungle more problematic is the fact that it has happened during a heat wave, which means reliance on hydropower is simply out of the question as dams have dried up.
This is not the first time consumers have had to face distressing circumstances due to gross mishandling on part of the PTI government. Last year, a petrol crisis brought the country to a standstill and although various OMCs (Oil Marketing Companies) were blamed for the shortage, the petroleum division’s inability to keep a check on the petrol cartel in the country while also failing to maintain minimum required stock, allowed the situation to deteriorate into a full-blown disaster.
For all its talk of merit-based governance and hiring the ‘best people for the job’, the PTI government does get an awful lot wrong. Perhaps the strategy of blaming previous governments for its own debacles has reached its sell-by date. It is high time that the federal government learns to accept its mistakes and makes arrangements to ensure they aren’t repeated.
