FAISALABAD: Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) acting President Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain has welcomed the ground breaking ceremony of CASA-1000 to inject 1000 mega watts of electricity into the energy starved economy of Pakistan.
In a statement, he said that CASA was one of the major multinational infrastructure projects, which would play a major role in transferring cheap hydel electricity from the Central Asia to the South Asian countries. This project will not only spur economic activities in the region but also promote peace and harmony, he added.
He expressed satisfaction that western donors are also funding this one billion dollar project. “Participation of the political heads of these countries in the ground breaking ceremony of CASA-1000 also reflect their strong will to complete this project for the benefit of their respective countries including Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kirgizstan and Afghanistan in addition to supplementing economic activities in these countries. “ It indicates that these visionary leaders not only fully understand the economic importance of this project but also have strong resolve to exploit their good offices for the in time completion of this mega project” he added.
Continuing, Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain said that Nawaz-led government in Pakistan was making serious efforts to overcome the energy crisis and many energy related projects are under completion. Although, there is visible difference between demand and supply of energy in Pakistan but the management of FESCO has reduced load shedding of electricity to zero for the major and composite industrial units of Faisalabad region, he said and added that now efforts are being made to further curtail the duration of load shedding for the small and medium industrial units.
He said that consumption of electricity will be increased with the onset of hot summer. Similarly, load shedding schedule for the industrial sector will also be disturbed in order to ensure continuous electricity supply to the fasting Muslims during the Holy month of Ramazan.
He said that government must take immediate measures to increase power generation in addition to improving its management to ensure electricity to the industrial sector during this critical situation. “Load shedding for the industrial sector will not only affect the productivity but also disturb the national exports”, he said and urged upon the government to avoid this situation with better management and enhanced power generation during the holy month of Ramzan.
