Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Tuesday took a strong exception to the government for 10 to 12 hours unscheduled power cuts and its failure to honour its commitment regarding two days weekly provision of gas to the industry because of which the industrial productions and trading activities have nose-divided to their lowest levels. In a statement issued here, LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, Senior Vice President Kashif Younis Meher and Vice President Saeeda Nazar said the government should come up with a clear cut energy policy, as haphazard hours long power outages and two day provision of gas after every ten days instead of weekly two days gas supply were causing undue and unprecedented loss to both the trade and industry.
They said the economy was fast heading towards the point on no return. LCCI office-bearers said they were unable to understand why the concerned departments were reluctant to take all the stakeholders into confidence on the energy situation. “When the government is unable to bridge the gap between the demand and supply, it should at least take all the stakeholders into confidence and announce a proper schedule for both the trade and industry so that they could readjust their working hours according to that schedule.” LCCI office-bearers said the power outages for the industry or the industrial areas should be scheduled with at least a three hour gap as in most of the industrial units or in case of heavy machinery, a machine usually takes 40-45 minutes for full functioning after the start up and if the power breaks would be on hourly based, no industry would be able to survive. They said LCCI had received a number of complaints wherein repeated unscheduled power cuts caused huge machinery loss and the whole unit had gone bankrupt. LCCI office-bearers said it is not the production loss alone, but the loss of export orders as well, since a large number of importers from US and EU countries were now placing their orders to the other regional countries. On-time delivery of an export order is a prerequisite to win any new order, but unfortunately Pakistan’s export-oriented industry in general and the industry in Punjab in particular are unable to ensure on-time delivery to their foreign buyers because of acute power shortage, they added.
LCCI office-bearers said same was the case with commercial activity, as only because of the low production, a number of businessmen were planning to shift their businesses to other countries; therefore, it would be wise on part of the government to take both the trade and industry into confidence over energy situation. They also urged Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani to ensure implementation of a proper power outage plan for the sake of industry otherwise, it would be impossible for the government to have an economic turnaround.
