KARACHI: Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has initiated a Rs3.86 billion project to install a high-pressure pipeline aimed at enhancing fuel supply for industrial consumers in the western part of Karachi. This new development is designed to resolve persistent low-pressure gas issues affecting the region’s industrial sector.
According to an official press statement, the 31-kilometer-long, 24-inch diameter pipeline extends from MVA ACPL to SMS Surjani. SSGC’s Managing Director, Imran Maniar, inaugurated the pipeline, noting that it will segregate low-pressure domestic and commercial consumers from high-pressure industrial consumers in the SITE and Hub Industrial Areas. The current industrial demand is around 130-140 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), with future projections between 80-100 mmscfd. The new pipeline is expected to meet approximately 269 mmscfd of demand.
Additionally, the pipeline will support a 5-kilometer extension from SMS Surjani to Madinatal Hikmah, as part of SSGC’s Master Plan for expanding Karachi’s distribution network. The project includes modifications to the Surjani stepdown assembly, which will enhance control, monitoring, and reduce leakages and theft, also known as Unaccounted-for-Gas (UFG), according to Maniar.
Maniar praised SSGC’s engineers, workers, and technicians for completing the project on schedule despite extreme heat over the past month and a half. He highlighted that the project will reduce UFG by decreasing unwanted high gas pressures in the domestic sector and improving pressures and volumes in the industrial sector.
This achievement, Maniar stated, was due to the unified effort and teamwork across multiple departments including projects and construction, planning and development, transmission, finance, procurement, and corporate communication.
SSGC has installed six major dedicated pipelines in Karachi to enhance gas supplies to industrial zones, such as SITE (Shershah), Hub, Korangi, and Landhi. Maniar also noted significant industrial developments in Nooriabad and Hub, with numerous applications for new industrial connections being received by the gas utility firm.
