Criticising seven percent planned increase in the price of electricity and two percent recent increase, President Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Shahid Naseem Khokhar on Saturday said local industry would be ruined if planned increase in power prices is implemented.
Talking to newsmen here on Saturday he said that country's economy was in dire straits due to global economic slowdown, loadshedding of electricity, gas and flood situation. Further increase in power price would not only increase the production cost but also aggravate the situation.
With the imposition of new taxes the already grave situation would deteriorate further, he said adding that business community knows well the problems of the government. He urged the government to reduce the staggering losses of Pakistan Railways, Wapda, PIA, Pakistan Steel, Pepco, etc. He urged the government to consider getting cheap electricity from China and Iran. Staggering line losses should be reduced and electricity theft be reduced.
Khokhar said that country was facing economic recession owing to the global financial crunch and this is the time to facilitate the industry rather then imposing taxes or increasing energy prices. He also demanded uninterrupted power supply to industry.
He demanded of the government to take stern action against those involved in energy theft and line losses must be reduced to overcome the crisis. The Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) while rejecting another two percent increase in electricity tariff has termed it detrimental to both the trade and industry and urged the government to withdraw it immediately.
He said that both the trade and industry were already in dire straits because of multiple internal and external challenges and the recent hike was bound to aggravate the situation further. He said that the people at the helm of affairs should convince the international donors that the time was not opportune for such an increase.
He reiterated that the government should concentrate on reducing transmission and distribution losses and improving the efficiency instead of blindly acting on the dictations of international donors that have little knowledge about the ground realities in Pakistan. The new hike was an anti-industry and anti-people step that would trigger another wave of price-hike.