Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (PIAF) has shown concern over the government's plan to observe almost 10-hour load shedding in industrial units during the holy month of Ramazan in order to provide electricity to the domestic consumers. The PIAF chairman Irfan Iqbal Sheikh while terming it as another setback for the economy, said that without power supply, production activities would come to a halt in industries, thus taking a toll on the national economy.

He said that due to insufficient power supply, industry was already operating far below its actual capacity, and long hours of load shedding during Ramazan would further dent its manufacturing activities. He urged the federal government to maintain exemption of electricity load-shedding to the industry's major consumers on independent feeders during Ramazan. He said the proposed 10 hours load-shedding would force the industry to close down one shift and lay off thousands of workers across the province.

This will be unfair to the labourers ahead of Ramazan. He said the total load of industrial units on independent feeders was hardly 250-300 megawatts which could easily be managed by the Ministry of Water and Power in order to` ensure smooth operations of industry.

Sheikh said Pakistan's exports had continued to fall for a long time, and the load shedding proposed for industry would cause further decline in Pakistan's exports as the exporters would not be able to meet the export deadlines on time. Terming energy as the lifeline of Pakistan's economy and most vital for the industrial development of the country, PIAF chairman hoped that all energy plan which are under process will provide enough energy till 2018 so that government may fulfil its commitment.

The energy sector of Pakistan was still infested with many problems, as the ever-increasing demand for growth, increasing transmission and distribution losses due to outdated power network, electricity theft, and seasonal reductions in the availability of hydropower had worsened the situation, he added.

He suggested paying more attention to the renewable energy sources for its early completion. "fortunately Pakistan's geographical location was a blessing in the sense that all the renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, bio-gas, biomass, mini and micro hydle existed in abundance, so these resources must be fully explored" he said.

The worldwide utilisation of renewable energy sources was on a fast track, and urged that Pakistan should make a comprehensive programme for speedy exploitation of these sources to ensure sustainable economic growth of the country, he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017