Gas supply to a large part of Karachi will remain suspended on Sunday as the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) will hook up a 24-inch diameter 31-kilometre long gas distribution pipeline from MVA Attock Cement Pakistan Limited (ACPL) to Sales Meter Station (SMS) Surjani. The SSGC has announced to temporarily shut down gas supply for 24 hours from 5:00am on July 28 till 5:00am the next day, to execute the vital task. Because of the planned shutdown, the following areas may be affected: Surjani Town (all sectors), North Karachi (all sectors), Manghopir Town, Qasba Town, Orangi Town (all sectors), North Nazimabad (all blocks), FB Area (all blocks), Gulberg (all blocks), Buffer Zone, SITE Industrial Area, Baldia Town, Ittehad Town, Mauripur, Central Region’s Gulshan-e-Maymar, Ahsanabad, Janjal Goth and SITE Super Highway as well as their adjacent areas. SSGC Managing Director Imran Maniar inaugurated the pipeline commissioning on Thursday which would improve gas pressure in Karachi’s western region. The SSGC, in a handout, had said the project was aimed at enhancing its facilities to meet customers’ requirements related to gas. It said the pipeline will largely address the issues of low-pressure supply of gas to company’s industrial customers located in the western region. The cost of the entire project is Rs3,859 million. “The project will segregate the low-pressure domestic and commercial consumers from high-pressure industrial consumers of SITE and Hub Industrial Areas. The present demand of these industrial customers is around 130-140 MMSCFD, whereas, the future excessive demand is estimated to be 80-100 MMSCFD. “Hence, around 269 MMSCFD demand would be met through this new pipeline. This pipeline will also serve as a feeding source for the 16″ dia x 5 km pipeline from SMS Surjani to Madinat-al-Hikmah, which is one of the five projects of SSGC’s Master Plan of expansion of the Distribution Network in Karachi,” the SSGC maintained.