Hot air

Having painted itself into a corner with the electricity crisis, the government in its infinite wisdom has decided to shoot itself and anybody who uses compressed natural gas (CNG) in both feet. As an exercise in futility the proposed two-day closure for all industrial units and CNG stations in NWFP and Punjab is surpassed only by the hunt for mare's nests. CNG stations are to close on a rotational basis for eight days a month in zones to be defined by the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL). We are told that this decision has been taken by the federal cabinet in order to address the expected shortfall in gas supplies between December and March, when there is a sharp rise in gas consumption in Punjab and NWFP during cold weather. Whilst any attempt to manage a predicted crisis is welcome in a nation which tends towards the reactive rather than the proactive, this proposal smacks of expediency and a chronic lack of what in modern management terms is called 'joined up thinking.'

The CNG station owners are already crying 'foul' and saying they were not consulted about this change in their business practice. Motorists are reportedly hoarding petrol against a future shortage of that commodity. There will doubtless be attempts to circumvent the new regulations and anybody who is a CNG user in southern Punjab is going to be looking to northern Sindh for their supplies after November 15, when the regulations are reportedly to come into force. Innumerable questions arise. If the CNG station owners refuse to comply and remain open on days they should not, how are they to be penalized? What is to stop industry that uses CNG from bulk-buying to see it through the 'closed' days? Who will police the regulations – the police? And have they not got enough on their plates with a national security crisis? At the very least the government needs to be talking to the gas retail sector in order to gain their cooperation before implementing any crisis-management plan. CNG is a vital national resource in which government and industry have invested heavily in the last decade – to the satisfaction and success of both. Imposing a top-down solution to a problem that is likely to provoke a strong bottom-up reaction is no way to do business. We need a little more joined up thinking and a little less hot air, both before November 15.