ISLAMABAD - The government will waive off Rs 200 billion of the outstanding amount to various sectors under the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) settlement mechanism.

Out of the total Rs 416 outstanding billed and un-billed GIDC the government will waive off half or Rs 208 billion to fertilizer, IPPs, industries, Gencos /K-Electric, captive power and CNG sectors, official document revealed. Interestingly these sectors have already collected billions of rupees GIDC from the consumers and now instead of returning to the consumers the government is providing it as an amnesty to the big industries.

According to the documents available with The Nation, the total pre and post 2015 GIDC accrued till December 2018 was Rs 701 billion, out of which Rs 285.2 billion were collected and deposited while total GIDC outstanding billed and unbilled amount is Rs 416.3 billion. The GIDC is divided in two sections which is pre and post 2015. GIDC accrued from 2012 to 2015 was Rs 287.6 billion out of which Rs 140.3 billion were deposited while Rs 147.2 billion are outstanding. The total GIDC collections accrued from 2015 to December 2018 were Rs 414 billion, out of which Rs 144.8 billion were deposited while Rs 269.1 billion are outstanding.

On January 24th, 2019, the federal cabinet had approved Gas Infrastructure Development Cess settlement mechanism for the companies with reduction in rate of GIDC that is subject to settlement of outstanding dues. The federal cabinet had approved 50 percent waiver in GIDC for companies to settle their outstanding dues.

From post 2015 to December 2018, the fertilizer (fuel) sector total accrued amount was Rs 2.5 billion out of that Rs 1 billion was deposited while Rs 1.5 billion are outstanding, fertilizer feed (old) total accrued amount is Rs 112.4 billion out of which Rs 55 billion were deposited while Rs 57.5 billion are outstanding, fertilizer feed (new) total accrued amount is Rs 55.6 billion out of which Rs 1.1 billion was deposited while Rs 54.5 billion is outstanding. For industry, total accrued amount is Rs 34 billion out of which Rs 12.1 billion was deposited while Rs 21.8 billion is outstanding, Gencos/KE total accrued amount is Rs 59.5 billion out of which Rs 27.4 billion was deposited while Rs 32.1 billion is outstanding, captive power total accrued amount is Rs 72.2 billion out of which Rs 8.8 billion was deposited while Rs 63.4 billion is outstanding, CNG region-1 and II total accrued amount is Rs 45.5 billion out of which Rs 4.7 billion was deposited while Rs 40.9  billion is outstanding. IPPs total accrued amount is Rs 32.2 billion out of which Rs 34.7 billion was deposited which was Rs 2.5 billion higher than the accrued amount.