Regional Manager of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) Mushtaq Ahmed Siddiqui has said that the gas load shedding which was being done to ensure uninterrupted supply to domestic consumers would end by the month of March.

Speaking at a reception hosted by Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) at it office here on Tuesday, the RM said load management was a compulsion and that the company acknowledged the losses it caused to the commercial users.

"With the new gas fields being added to the system, a similar situation of gas shortage will hopefully not arise in the next winter," he assured. While responding to complaints of low gas pressure in the industrial areas of Hyderabad, Siddiqui said a new pipeline of 5 inch diameter was being laid in order to address that problem.

Similar complaints of low pressure also surface in the industrial zones in Mirpurkhas where also the SSGC was laying new lines, he added. The business community also brought to his knowledge the complaints about delay in providing new connections to the domestic users.

They were told that work on 15,000 new domestic connections had been started, however, the government had banned new connection to the industries for a period of a year.

Siddiqui asked the industrialists to register the use of gas for the power generators so that the company could ensure they get the required pressure. "The unregistered usage of gas powered generators leads to complaints of gas scarcity because the company supplies gas in accordance with requirements which do not include generators," he explained.

Speaking on the occasion, Senior Vice President of HCCI Turab Ali Khwaja said the HCCI was playing its role to resolve the problems faced by the business community.

He briefed the RM in detail about the problems caused by load management and low pressure to the industrial and commercial users. "The economic progress is only possible through industrial growth which is reliant on uninterrupted supply of electricity," he observed.

Chairman HCCI's committee on CNG Muhammad Iqbal Baig asked the SSGC to form the load management schedule in consultation with the representatives of the CNG Association as to avoid causing inconvenience to the public and private transport.

Former President HCCI Haji Muhammad Yaqoob, businessmen Mehmood Ahmed, Yousuf Suleman, Ziauddin, Syed Yawar Ali Shah and others also discussed the problems faced by various segments of trade and industry, seeking resolution of their problems.