ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by its President Muzzamil Hussain Sabri called on Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) Chief Executive, Malik Yousaf Awan, and apprised him of the problems being faced by the local industry due to four hours continuous electricity load shedding by IESCO during peak manufacturing hours.
Addressing the delegation, IESCO Chief Executive, Malik Yousaf Awan said he was fully cognizant of the difficulties of industrialists due to energy shortfall and assured that the IESCO would explore all possible options to reduce load shedding for the industry. He said due to energy deficit, IESCO had scheduled total four hours daily load shedding for industry, however, the duration of power shutdown for industry would be reduced to two hours at a time, so that the industry could get some relief in continuing its production activities. He said the IESCO intended to provide maximum facilitation regarding power supply to industry, but due to rise in the shortfall, it was compelled to resort to load management. However, he assured that IESCO would try to finalize load management schedules in consultation with business community to provide maximum relief to the industry.
Speaking at the occasion, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President, Muzzamil Hussain Sabri, said electricity load shedding of long durations have rendered large number of workers idle and badly affected the production activities. He expressed the fear that if power shutdowns for industry were not controlled to minimum possible level, industry would be unable to meet production orders while many workers could lose jobs. He further said that IESCO should finalize load management programmes in consultation with business community so that consensus and solution of energy shortage could be explored and industry could be saved from further losses. ICCI former president, Khalid Javed said electricity was key input for steel industry and furnaces normally took one hour in warming up due to which steel industry could not afford four hours load shedding at a stretch. He said the IESCO should either schedule load shedding for industry at nighttime or minimize its duration for industry to facilitate industrial activities.
ICCI former President, Tariq Sadiq said industrialists were ready to cooperate with the government to cope with energy crisis; however, it was not possible to run industry with four hours continuous load shedding. IESCO should schedule two hours load shedding at a time for industry to enable it to continue with production activities, he further said.
