Gas price in Kabul to be cut in 2 days

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (PAN): Ministry of Commerce Officials promised on Monday gas prices would be lowered to 55 afghanis ($1.13) within two days, saying they had signed an agreement with three major importers.

On Sunday, a delegation of officials from the ministry and Attorney General’s Office was sent to the Hairatan port, connecting Central Asian countries with Afghanistan, to discuss alleged hoarding of the commodity by some traders.

The price of one kilogram of gas in Kabul ranged between 80afs and 100afs on Monday.

Speaking to reporters in Hairatan, a Ministry of Commerce and Industries official, Farid Sherzai, said they had held fruitful talks with Kamal Nabizada, Pisaran-i-Dost, Ghazanfar Group and some other firms.

“The companies have given us a written assurance that they will sell one tonne of gas to traders in the city for $1, 020,” he said. In Hairatan, a tonne sells for $920 and its transportation to Kabul accounts for about $100.

The companies would start supplying liquefied gas to capital on Tuesday, the official said, hoping the price would drop in two days.

Mohammad Ayub Ghazanfar, head of the Ghazanfar Group, said they would sell 5,000 tonnes of gas in the capital. The main cause behind the price hike was that a large number of trucks remained stuck in Turkmenistan during Eid days, Ghazanfar said.

frm/mud