The government is considering a gradual increase in the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) rates instead of 200 per cent it earlier sought through the Finance Bill 2014-15.
The move comes at a time when Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is set to wind up the debate on next year’s federal budget in the National Assembly today.
A government official said yesterday that the government would be securing parliamentary approval to have powers for increasing GIDC rates on all non-domestic consumers at a time of its choice.
This would not mean increasing GIDC rates from Rs100 per mmBtu to Rs300 mmBtu immediately after the approval of the Finance Bill 2014-15 later this month, he explained.
Under the Finance Bill 2014-15, the government proposed increasing gas rates for industrial, commercial, fertiliser and captive power plants through GIDC to generate Rs145 billion next year instead of Rs88bn this year.
