The rampant electricity load shedding by 12-16 hours a day in the city has shrunk the trade and commercial activities to 20 percent, whereas small and medium production units are facing financial crunch and due to unavailability of electricity have scaled down their productions by 80 percent, traders said on Monday.
The SME sector is faced with serious financial crisis which has emerged in the wake of acute electricity deficit, which has restricted the production to only 20 percent. As a result, production in many units remains at a halt, said Mehmood Hamid, President of All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders and Cottage Industry (APOSTC).
He termed the prolonged electricity load shedding as a "conspiracy" to put adverse effect on the country's economy. In spite of a 12-hours working shift at these production units, hardly the machines operate for two hours. Workers remain inactive due to dull activity, while owners have to pay them even for overtime every day, he said, adding that such a situation has brought the small and medium industrialists into a financial crisis.
"The entire city has been left to the mercy of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC). And, violent protests can erupt any time due to the abrupt and prolonged electricity cut to residential and industrial consumers by KESC on daily basis," Hamid expressed fears.
He maintained that on the one hand the trade deficit widens, spurring inflation and, on the other, the government increases electricity tariff, which is making the economy more sluggish. Even though the bigger industrial units are striving hard to cope with the huge electricity deficits, the SME sector is stepping towards a closure, he said.
The national exchequer bears over Rs 100 million losses per day for electricity shortage to industries, he said, adding that the government should pay attention to Karachi's SME sector and resolve their problems.
In the retail markets, sales has almost reached 20 percent, said Fareed Qureshi, general secretary of Karachi Retail Grocers Group (KRGG). He said that for almost 16 hours load shedding is being carried out, which has inflicted huge losses on retailers and put negative impacts on the business. UPS have also stopped proper functioning due to over-utilisation, while the batteries are also costlier, he said, adding that small retailers cannot afford to buy generators.
Atiq Mir, chairman of alliance of market associations, said that business activities remain for less than six hours a day. He criticised the recent government's decision of making the electricity costlier by 31 percent, saying that such moves will bring an increase in the electricity theft.
He expressed pessimism that electricity load shedding will continue to unless a short term plan is devised, while a job that should have been done two decades ago for enhancing electricity generation is not yet on the government's agenda.
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