LAHORE: The business community has urged the government to focus on tackling energy crisis in the upcoming budget 2015-16.
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Ijaz A Mumtaz, talking to media, said that in order to tackle the energy shortage, the government has to allocate most of the funds for construction of dams including Kalabagh, water reservoirs and Thar coal project. He said that at least 10 percent of the total budget should be allocated the hydel power projects to cope with the challenge of energy shortage.
Mumtaz said that the country’s reliance on costly thermal power is jacking up the cost of production and the import bill as well. The country needs an urgent transfer in its energy-mix in favour of hydel power and alternate energy resources. He suggested that use of biogas should be promoted throughout the rural sector both for electricity generation and gas for cooking besides producing bio fertilizer.
Former LCCI vice president Kashif Anwar said that over 185 billion tons of Thar coal reserves are enough to provide 100,000 MW of electricity for 100 years.
Kashif also hoped that maximum funds would also be made available for LNG terminals to keep the industrial wheel running especially in Punjab that has borne the brunt of recent suspension of gas supplies to industry in the country.
Saarc Chamber Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik said that rising risk perception about investing into Pakistan is hitting hard the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and it would affect the economic growth of the country. He said that this issue should be tackled through a comprehensive policy approach by involving Chambers of Commerce in the country.
