The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has hoped that sufficient funds will be allocated for the energy sector in the Federal Budget 2015-16 to bridge the gap between energy demand and supply. LCCI Senior Vice President Mian Nauman Kabir in a statement on Wednesday claimed that provision of energy to the trade and industry is the priority of the regime and the upcoming budget should reflect the government's endeavours aimed at enhancement of power generation.
He said, "The government has to plan for enhancement of power generation through hydel means as the country's reliance on costly thermal power is jacking up the cost of production and the import bill as well. The country needs an urgent transfer in its energy-mix in favour of hydel power and alternate energy resources. Over 185 billion tonnes of Thar coal reserves are enough to provide 100,000 megawatts of electricity for 10 decades. Although the government is doing a lot at this front but efforts should be accelerated as the uninterrupted and affordable power supplies can turn Pakistan into an economic powerhouse." He said that may be more funds would also be made available for LNG terminals to keep the industrial wheel running especially in the Punjab.
"The rising risk perception about investing into Pakistan is hitting hard the foreign direct investment and it would affect the economic growth of the country. He further said, "A number of sectors in Pakistan including infrastructure development, coal, energy, agriculture, livestock, textiles and pharmaceutical offer lucrative investment opportunities to foreign investors but unfortunately because of absence of a proper and well tailored marketing strategy, these opportunities are unattended even today."
Comments
Comments are closed.