LAHORE: Cuts in power supply to the industry would hit economic activities hard therefore government would have to exploit all options to stop unscheduled load shedding which has become the biggest challenge at the moment.
In a statement issued here, the LCCI President Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that prolonged power outages in the industrial areas are jacking up the graph of unemployment particularly hitting the daily wagers hard.
The LCCI president said that the most of industrial units had already reduced their working hours. This had led to increased level of raw-material wastage, making production process non-profitable. Now the leading industrial units were experiencing losses despite being managed professionally.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that the shortage of electricity had already caused flight of capital and relocation of industrial units to the countries like Bangladesh and Malaysia besides reducing government revenues drastically.
He said that the government should share its energy plan with the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry as power outages have crippled both the trade and industry.
“How the government would establish its writ and from where it would collect revenues to run its day-to-day affairs when the industrial wheel is coming to a grinding halt”, the LCCI President questioned.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that the government should understand that economic well being is a must. He said that Unemployment, price-hikes, industrial closures always give birth to lawlessness and anarchy. Therefore, the government should understand the ground realities and reset its priorities as far as power generation is concerned.
He said that the consumers of the efficient distribution companies with lowest line losses and the highest recovery ratio are being treated unfairly.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said the private sector was engine of the growth and in the developed countries it is facilitated to the maximum but in Pakistan circumstances are quite the other way round.
The LCCI President urged the Prime Minister to take notice of this gravity of the situation and act promptly to save industrial and social fabric of the country.
He also urged the government to complete water and hydropower projects in the shortest possible as the energy demand is growing with every passing day.
