Chairman of National Business Group of FPCCI, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said the gas crisis had broken the back of general industry and export sector.

The industrial sector should be provided gas without delay to resume production and complete export orders within the deadline to save their reputation, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the economy could not develop unless the industrial sector starts getting a consistent supply of gas so that investors stop running after gas and electricity and waste their time in protests.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that billion of dollars had been spent on infrastructure and import of LNG. Still, it failed to improve the situation by reducing the gas crisis in winter, which is a question mark on gas bureaucracy’s efficiency.

He said that the gas demand is increasing for decades, but the discoveries have remained unsatisfactory, which call for incentives for exploration companies.

The LNG supply chain’s weaknesses should be fixed, import of gas from Turkmenistan should be expedited, and working of gas distribution companies should be improved, he said.

He congratulated Imran Maniar on his appointment as Managing Director of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited. He hoped that he would utilise the best of his abilities to improve the working of the utility.

Maniar has 30 years of experience. He has served in the US, South America and the Middle East and the business community hope that he will bring a change in the system to provide relief to masses and the business community.

The business community will fully cooperate with Mr Imran Maniar to improve the overall situation, he said.