Energy crisis may lead to total shutdown of business activities in country: PCA

The computer vendors and traders have strongly apprehended that the present energy crises may lead to total shutdown of business activities in the country in the absence of a long-term strategy to deal with the power issue.
This was stated by Munawar Iqbal, the Central President of Pakistan Computer Association (PCA) while speaking at the general body meeting of the association here on Tuesday. During the meeting, it was observed that the present energy crisis was not only hampering economic growth of the country but also leading the industry towards a total shut down. However, it was ironic on the part of the government that it has yet to come up with the long term planning and to confront with crisis.
Iqbal said that government ought to announce a national energy strategy and initiate public-private partnership so that country may exploit its resources in a more meaningful and efficient manner. He said that though the government had announced various measures for the conservation, but nothing has been initiated for generation of electricity to run the wheel of the economy.
The central president of PCA added further that government should facilitate our policymakers, economists as well as public and private sector representatives to identify areas for developing a long-term plan for power generation. He said that government should invite international experts to help Pakistan in finding the viable solutions and in the lights of recommendations by all stakeholders; implementation should be made on priority basis to save the country from further economic damage.
He further said that industrial productivity is hampering greatly due to announcement of load management plans from time-to-time by the government that eventually hurt the exports of Pakistan. Therefore, he said, the government needs to combat with challenge with rigorous plan and strategy.