FAISALABAD: Electricity market may be developed in Pakistan enabling consumers to purchase this utility from the company of their own choice on a competitive basis, said Dr Sajjad Arshad, Acting President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI).
Addressing the under training officers of the Elementary Management Course at Wapda Engineering Academy, he said that consumers have to pay hefty bills of electricity despite the fact that the recoveries of Fesco are 99.2%.
He disclosed that open competition will help in bringing down the cost of electricity by creating healthy competition between the power producers. He said that per unit cost of Fesco is estimated at Rs 10.70 but due to the inefficiencies of the other loss-making discos, the consumers of Fesco have to bear these losses.
He said that the electricity market would not only provide cheap electricity to the consumers of efficient Discos but also help the government to get rid of irritating circular debt and losses of inefficient Discos.
He said that at global level, the world is switching over from fossil fuel to clean and renewable energy.
“China is producing 50% energy from hydel and 50% from solar and wind power,” he said and demanded that our government should also provide cheap loans particularly to the SME sector to convert to solar energy.
Dr Sajjad Arshad also introduced FCCI and said that it has 8,000 members hailing from 118 sectors and sub sectors of the economy. He said that we identify sector wise problems and take up genuine issues with the government for their expeditious redressal.
“We also play a key role in policy making by giving input to the government particularly during the budget formulation,” he said and added that enhanced exports, FDI and foreign remittances are imperative for economic stability and growth. He said that currently all these indicators are negative. Responding to a question, he said that no business is bad for the economy as the investors always try to earn profit.
He said that most of the investors entered into the real estate sector and later they started purchasing dollars while now they are investing in the stock market to maximise their profit.
He criticised the over billing by Wapda and said that it is a unique nature of fraud as hundred percent extra bills were issued for the months of August and September.
“No doubt, it involves policy decisions which should be corrected once for the all,” he said and added that FCCI was also contributing its humble role in the promotion of IT by providing training and internships to the young graduates.
He said that the feedback system was faulty in the country but at FCCI level we have evolved a comprehensive strategy to resolve the identified issues till their final disposal.
Vice President Haji Muhammad Aslam Bhalli identified political instability, inconsistent and faulty policy making as the root cause of our major economic ills.
Representing traders, he said that FBR was now trying to clamp taxes on the retail stage after recovering it from the whole sellers. He said that most of the problems faced by the government and masses could be resolved if FBR is put on the right track.
He said that additional taxes would fuel the price spiral which would further complicate the problems of the low-income class. He said that pulses and flour are exempted from tax but it is charged on the sugar and oil. He said that such anomalies must be removed to streamline the taxation system.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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