OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE Representatives of LPG marketing companies and distributors have criticised the LPG Policy 2011 and appealed the government to withdraw policy in the best interest of local industry and countrys economy. Addressing a press conference at Lahore Press Club here on Friday, LPG Association of Pakistan (LPGAP) office-bearers Fasih Ahmed and Belal Jabbar along with All Pakistan LPG Distributors Association (APLPGDA) senior Vice-Chairman Ali Haider and Vice-Chairman Atique Khan said that the government, as per new policy, has imposed petroleum levy of around $150 per metric ton on locally produced liquefied gas. In the light of government announcement, they held the LPG price increase to Rs 13 per kg when the policy would become operative on October 3, 2011. They complained that the new policy was made in isolation and they being a main stakeholder had not been consulted in this regard. The members of both associations were of the view that new policy did not offer any incentives to local producers to enhance their production rather the policy was import centric. They held that every country provided incentives to the local production while the government of Pakistan had set a precedent where local production was discouraged. 'We believe the policy favours state monopolisation of the LPG industry, it is contrary to the processes of deregulation and privatisation in the country. During the last government, the LPG business of SSGC and SNGPL had been privatised and bought by multinationals, they said, adding the privatisation was done on the basis that the state utility companies had been losing money and the distribution of LPG through them had become politicised. Giving the details of the countrys local production, they said that the local production was standing at about 1,200 metric tons while a few years back the country had been producing up to 1,800 metric tones per day, the distributors said. The reasons behind the decline in local production, according to them, were depletion in the local fields and apathy of the government towards adding new fields. We have potential to produce 700 metric tons of LPG per day domestically, but the government has yet to announce any comprehensive plan in this regard. OGRA has failed in its responsibility to take distributors and retailers into the regularity ambit, they regretted. They said that urgent dialogues among all the stakeholders and the government were needed on the issues to review the imposition of policy. It was the need of the hour to develop a plan to encourage local production, to reduce reliance on imports and to make Pakistan a LPG exporting country, they stressed. This is worth mentioning here that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has recently announced the LPG Policy 2011. The Policy guidelines are: the disposal of LPG by public sector companies, LPG licensing, LPG safety standards, LPG pricing, distribution of LPG in under developed areas and import and export of LPG. The marketing companies and distributors, since the day, have been criticising the various features of the policy. They say the governments guidelines regarding LPG would destroy the local industry, claming the national exchequer would be deprived from a big portion of Rs 300 billion annual indirect and direct taxes related with the LPG chain. The government, on the other side, claims the new policy has been made in the interest of the countrys energy sector and it will not bring harm to local producer.