DistantNews
Support us
🇵🇰 Pakistan /Economy & Trade

PPP Blocks Two Gas Revenue Bills Amid Rift With Government

From Dawn · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • The Pakistan Peoples Party blocked discussion of two government bills concerning the natural gas development surcharge and the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess.
  • PPP lawmaker Syed Naveed Qamar asked a National Assembly committee not to take up the measures during a meeting chaired by Syed Mustafa Mehmood.
  • The bills had proposed changes to the use of gas-related funds, including financing strategic oil and gas reserves and pipeline projects.

The Pakistan Peoples Party blocked parliamentary discussion of two gas-revenue bills on Friday, adding to tensions within Pakistan’s ruling coalition.

At a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Petroleum, PPP chairman Syed Mustafa Mehmood presided as party lawmaker and former petroleum and finance minister Syed Naveed Qamar asked the panel not to discuss the Natural Gas (Development Surcharge) Amendment Bill or the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Amendment Bill.

The latest dispute came amid political bickering over recent elections in Azad Kashmir and debate about the proposed creation of new provinces. The committee deferred both measures.

The Petroleum Division had proposed expanding the permitted use of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess funds. Under the proposal, the money could support strategic oil and gas reserves, in addition to the existing mandate covering projects such as the Pakistan-Iran and Turkmenistan-Pakistan gas pipelines and cross-country pipelines. The supplied report cuts off while discussing an amount of Rs295 billion.

About this summary

Originally published by Dawn in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog