Can’t supply gas without a price hike – Litro chairman

Chairman of Litro Gas, Mr Vijitha Herath says that the company is unable to continue to supply LP gas to consumers without increasing prices. 

Speaking to reporters today (26), he said that presently the company owes around Rs. 10,000 million to banks while the total expenditures come to around Rs. 24,000 million. 

“Therefore at this time we cannot buy gas ... unless we sell gas for the right price,” he said. 

The Litro chairman said that currently there are around 1.5 million families who don’t have gas and that they have to definitely supply these families with gas.

He stated that this crisis did not occur in one day and that the only way to resolve the situation is to increase gas prices. 

“Therefore, we clearly tell the public that we have to make a sacrifice to get out of this series of issues.”

 He stated that the country loses a sum of Rs. 4,500 for each gas cylinder imported and that what is happening now is that gas cylinders are being sold for half the cost borne while the other half is paid by the government. 

“The only thing we can do to prevent this situation is to sell for the right price, but not to make a profit. We have to go for a price revision. There is no way out of this problem without increasing the price,” he said.

The chairman said that they are expecting that the government will make the relevant announcement as there is no way to supply gas uninterrupted without increasing the prices.