Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) president Tariq Sadiq has demanded of the government to include representatives of the business community in the public regulatory authorities.
In a statement issued here on Tuesday, he said the Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and National Electric Regulatory Authority (Nepra) are represented by government officials and whenever a summary is presented to them for increasing the rates, they approve them without taking viewpoints of the general public and other stakeholders.
Tariq said Ogra, at the start of the summer season, has increased gas rates, giving the justification of increase in oil prices in the international market, whereas gas is not imported into Pakistan from anywhere else in the world.
He further said domestic requirements are met with locally produced gas and Ogra even did not take into confidence industrial sector before increasing the rates.
He expressed concern that with the increase in gas tariff, production cost also increased and our products have to face serious competition in the international market.
He said currently there is no shortage of electricity in the country, whereas dams are filled with water but Wapda is still looking to increase its tariff, which is totally unjustified.
Tariq said performance of Pemra is also not satisfactory and it has completely failed to control cable operators.
He proposed to constitute monitoring committees in every city and authorise them to take action, whereas a ban should be imposed on the advertisement of Pakistani companies abroad.
Tariq Sadiq appealed to the Prime Minister to consider representation of the ICCI in all regulatory authorities.
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