Energy Crisis: Business community recommendations
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LAHORE (APP): Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Sunday urged the government to upgrade aging power transmission and distribution system on fast track.
LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad, Senior Vice President Almas Hyder and Vice President Nasir Saeed said here that old transmission lines were not only causing electricity losses and unable to bear burden of extra production of power but also causing untoward incidents.
They said the government was working on various power projects to fulfill electricity demand which was growing with the passage of time, and repeated incidents of power failure in recent past had already revealed weakness of power transmission and distribution system.
The LCCI office-bearers said that it was a very good sign that the government was well aware of rising demand of electricity and working on a number of power projects round-the-clock, but it should also be aware of the fact that existing power distribution system could not bear the load of additional power.
They urged the government not to tolerate any laxity towards the upgradation of power transmission and distribution system as any negligence could cause unbearable loss to the trade, industry and economy.
The Lahore chamber also urged the government to ensure early completion of ongoing power projects as it was a must to keep the industrial wheel moving, while economic growth was also linked with sufficient and cheap energy.
Business community did not have any doubt about seriousness of the incumbent regime in solving the energy crisis as it had already started a number of power projects; however, there was a dire need of their completion in the shortest possible time as an acute shortage of electricity was hitting the economic activities hard, they added.
They said that timely completion of hydropower projects was vital for mitigating water and power shortfall; therefore, the government should exploit all available options to stop unscheduled power cuts which were affecting negatively economic activities.
Since economic well-being was a must, the government should reset its priorities as far as power generation was concerned, they said and added that private sector was engine of growth and in developed countries, it was facilitated to the maximum.
They said that promotion of alternate energy resources would definitely curtail the burden from conventional energy system therefore government should bring down duties and taxes on the equipment being used for power generation through alternate energy resources.
