Two weekly offs among options to conserve energy

Secretary, Petroleum, Ahmed Waqar, has said that the government is considering various options to conserve energy, including two-day weekly off for all government and semi-government departments. Talking to Business Recorder on Saturday, he said that the government was working out total saving of energy - oil and electricity - in case of two-day weekly off and, on studying the impact, recommendations would sent to the Cabinet for consideration.
He hinted at launching a countrywide awareness campaign to persuade the owners to convert vehicles from petrol to CNG. Conversion of vehicles from oil to CNG could be one of many factors, which could help the government to keep oil import bill at a reasonable level and so reduce oil consumption.
The Secretary, however, ruled out the possibility of rationing of oil and CNG to minimise their use. He said: "I do not think there is any need of taking such a harsh step in the prevailing situation when the country's economy is at the take off stage." Waqar said he believes that rationing of petroleum products and CNG could slow down the pace of the country's economic growth necessary for sustaining it.
Continuous rise in oil prices in the world market is a cause of concern to the entire world, but it's more threatening to poor or growing economies. Pakistan is, of course, not an exception in the given situation. The government economic managers are working on different proposals to thwart the possible negative impact of the rising oil prices on Pakistan's economy. Waqar, who is part of the government team that is actively engaged in preparing a national energy conservation strategy, said that the people should feel their responsibilities and show conscious restraint to avoid unnecessary use of energy, in particular oil.
He said that a committee comprising officials of Ministry of Petroleum and Central Board of Revenue (CBR) would meet some time next week to study the impact of rising oil prices on national economy and suggest ways and means to minimise their effect on consumers. The committee would also workout a formula to give relief to the consumers.
It may be noted that oil consumers have been demanding of the government to keep oil prices at lowest level to save them from further burden. They want that the government should cap oil prices at least for the period when these go beyond a certain level. The government had discussed the issue of high oil prices and their impact on the people and constituted the committee comprising officials of Petroleum Ministry and CBR for suggesting remedial measures.