Outages duration raised for industry to gap 5,000MW deficit

LAHORE - To make up for the record 5,000 megawatt electricity shortage, the Pakistan Electric Power Company has extended loadshedding duration in the industrial sector up to 50 per cent, which was earlier facing about 5 hours power shutdowns with steel industry enduring the total suspension of electricity supply.
Market sources told The Nation that in the backdrop of closure of power plants in Mangla Dam, resulting in the power shortage of over 5,000 megawatt, the Pepco on one side has increased the loadshedding duration in urban areas up to 16 hours while in rural areas up to 18 hours, on the other it has either increased outages period in some industries like textile, cement and fertilizers or suspended the supply completely to some industries.
It is to be noted that all the hydal generation power plants at Mangla Dam with capacity of about 1,100 megawatts suspended operations, besides major thermal power stations production of lower than their capacity, hit the power scarcity to the alarming level of over 5,000 megawatt, sparking the riots all over the province including city.
All power generating units at Mangla Dam stopped their their productions owing to some technical fault, plunging several areas of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Mirpur Khas and many cities of the upper Punjab in to darkness.
Meanwhile, the scheduled and unscheduled loadshedding added to the miseries of the people which have now reached up to 18 hours in several areas.
In city of Lahore the residents demanded immediate end of loadshedding and warned that they would not pay the electricity bills if loadshedding persisted.
Long hour power outages continued to cripple urban as well as rural life in the country. Like other parts of the country unannounced prolonged loadshedding was reported also in city areas like Shad Bagh, Queens Road, Mozang, Wahdat Colony, Ichhra, Township, Rehman Pura, Walled City, Bhati, Sanda, Mufti Road, Chohan Park, Saman Abad, Griffin Housing Scheme, Allama Iqbal Town, Johar Town, New Mozang, Gulshan-E-Ravi, Kachupura, Garhi Shahu, Mughal Pura and Gujjar Pura.
Meanwhile, the LCCI Tuesday urged the govt to save both the trade and industry from a total collapse in the wake of worst-ever power crisis that has gripped the country. It is a national loss to the country in the shape of loss of export orders, closure of business houses, industrial units and laying off workers.
In a statement issued here, the LCCI President Mian Muzaffar Ali said as there was no immediate solution in sight, the government should at least waive off accrued interest/markup and other related government levies to ensure some breathing space to the manufacturing sector as is being done in the developed world where their respective government have stepped in to save economy.
He said that with strong recession worldwide and enhanced incentives given to their exporters by the government of neighbouring countries Pakistan is rapidly losing its exports share.
The LCCI President Mian Muzaffar Ali said that due to unavailability of electricity and resultant closure of industrial units the businessmen were unable even to pay the salaries to their employees what to talk of other dues.
He said that the survival of entire trade and industry was at stake and nothing would be able to put the industrial wheel back on rails if immediate and urgent measures were not adopted. He urged both the federal and the provincial governments to allocate special funds to the industrial sector to compensate the industrialists who are paying to their workers without any work instead of laying them off.
The LCCI President further suggested that if the government was technically unable to dish out any such incentives, it should reimburse 50 per cent of the energy and other bills to encourage the documented sector.
It is the duty of the government to ensure basic necessities to the masses and in such an abnormal conditions when the business community was unable to run their businesses not because of their own reasons but due to the mishandling of affairs by those who are sitting at helm, the loss should borne by the government and not by the individual who has put all his money just to provide employment to hundreds and thousands of people.
The LCCI President said that the energy situation has reached the point of no return despite the fact that there is a Ministry of Water and Power, a Private Power & Infrastructural Board (PPIB), Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB) and National Electric Power Regular Authority (NEPRA).
At present the overall power sector circular debt has swelled to Rs 358 billion, bringing the generation system to a standstill.
The LCCI President said that one could well imagine the situation of the trade and industry when the shortage of electricity was increasing with every passing day.
The industries facing with serious power shortage are on the verge of collapse, as they are not meeting their export orders. They are not able to bear the high cost of generation.
There are quite a few export-oriented industrial units that are running to meet the deadlines of their delivery schedule but it was such a costly affair that it has wiped out their liquidity.