Problems confronting Pakistan today are innumerable. The gravity of these problems is serious enough to send shiver down the spines of every citizen of this country. You name it and it is there; rampant corruption, gas shortages, water shortages, miserable law and order situation, rapidly declining foreign investment, terrorism, and many, many more.
The most critical of these problems are the devastating electricity and gas shortages. These two problems have acquired critical dimensions because they are directly impacting the industries and thereby the economy of the country. Not that the government in saddles is ignorant about the severity of the situation but things have gone so worse, vis-a-vis these two major issues, that it has become awfully difficult for it to bring these two extremely vital problems under immediate control.
Initially, it was decided that the government, due to critical electricity and gas shortages, would zero down electricity and gas supplies to the industries. But realizing that this action, on the part of the government, would have a serious impact on the industries and thereby the dismal economic condition of the country, it has decided to retract its earlier decision on the matter. The latest decision of the government to provide uninterrupted electricity and gas supplies to the industries sounds really good. However, what boggles the minds of those who are fully aware of the gravity of the situation is how would the government fulfil this commitment with no improvement whatsoever in the current very poor status of these two vital energy resources?
Unambiguously, the commitment made by the government has raised the expectations of the industrial sector of the country without taking stock of its ability to meet it. The fact remains that the promise made by it to not to subject the industries across the country to electricity/gas load shedding, while simultaneously saying there will be no increase in consumer load shedding, can only be fulfilled if there is a significant increase in the production of electricity/gas, something that the government hasn’t been able to do thus far. Keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that the government would somehow succeed in fulfilling the commitment that it has made, this would not only resuscitate the rapidly waning industrial sector of the country but also reinvigorate it. This may also bring some relief to the domestic consumers of electricity/gas who stand equally brutally battered by the menace of electricity and gas shortages.
M FAZAL ELAHI
Islamabad
The Pakistani press should focus on what pushed a difficult energy crisis over the cliff. Those of us who have worked for years and invested millions into the Pakistan energy sector have been treated to an unimaginable lawless, contract abrogating and acidic business environment. The Supreme Court of Pakistan willfully cancelled dozens of power commercial contracts with no evidence of wrongdoing and then used gross intimidation and threats to personal freedom to stop international arbitration procedures. Hundreds of millions of dollars were lost and reputations destroyed by false and political charges of corruption. My own firm lost millions and then suffered through a foreign corrupt practices investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice…which resulted in a finding of no evidence of any such corruption. This investigation was instigated by a fake transparency organization based in Pakistan that attempts to extort companies. One power plant that my company still owns in Pakistan had its contract illegally cancelled and then despite massive payments extorted from our local partners by the government, has been denied export. This expropriation of an entire power plant is according to the U.S. State Department the only expropriation of U.S. commercial assets in the world. Of all the places on the planet a U.S. company can invest…Pakistan should not be just last on the list but should not even be on the list. You are very welcome to call me at 1-405-840-8383 or reach me at [email protected] if you have any reason to not believe what is stated above. I have many more details and substantiating documents to aid your due diligence.
The reason the lights are flickering and going out is that your government was more interested in creating false scandals for political purposes than solving problems. Enshallah you should find a leader who will be serious about solving the problems instead of grandstanding for the cameras.
Comments are closed.