Unscheduled power load shedding by Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) has badly affected industrial and domestic activities in the provincial metropolis. The 3000 MW fall in power production in the country and damaging of the power pylon had multiplied the problems of the consumers in Peshawar and its suburban localities.
The Pakistan Electricity and Power Company (Pepco) has announced a load shedding of 5 to 6 hours in a period of 24-hour. But, the situation is totally different in NWFP in general and Peshawar in particular where the power distribution company had resorted to 12-hour load shedding a day.
The company used to switch off power supply for a long period of two-hour after the passage of the same period creating water shortage in the city. Due to the heavy load shedding the business of emergency lights, generators and UPS is booming day-night.
Hours o f power load shedding in industrial units has caused for abandoning whole one shift of the working hours, as a result of which 10,000 workers were laid off. "The power shortage clubbed with other security problem had lifted the business community with no other option other than closing second shift in their units," told Nauman Wazir, president, Industrialists Association Peshawar (IAP) when contacted by the scribe.
He further said that the energy crisis during the last eight months had played havoc with the Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) that had registered a growth of minus 6 while NWFP which although lacks large scale units but the SMEs have also registered decline. The load shedding in the province, he said had further decline in growth by 8 to 9 per cent resulting in increasing unemployment.
He urged the government to fix its priority and work for reducing mark up rate, which is about 20 to 21 per cent in the province. Under prudential regulations enforced in Bangladesh, he said spread in the deposit is five per cent, but in Pakistan, he said Pakistan banks are getting deposits at 10 per cent but disbursing it to the business community at 20 per cent showing a difference of 11 to 13 per cent.
Similarly, he said that the higher rate of charges of the electricity during peak hours, from 5:00 pm to 12:00, is Rs 9.20 as compared to Rs 6.40 in Punjab. In such a big difference in the rate of electricity, the industrialists are not in position to operate their units even without power load shedding. According to constitution, he said that province where a natural resource had discovered enjoy first right as compared to other provinces.
As in case of natural gas, he said Balochistan has right to take first benefit of it like Punjab, which taking benefit of the wheat production. In light of such principle, we are demanding ownership right over power production. Pesco is attributing the massive power load shedding to destruction of two high power supply lines by some miscreants in the suburban areas of Peshawar.