The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Friday welcomed the Indian offer to supply 5000MW of electricity and urged the government to accept the offer without any further delay, as it would definitely bridge the gap between demand and supply that hardly crosses the 5000MW mark.
The LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh in a statement said that the Indian offer is very much achieve the project as electricity from India could easily transmitted to Pakistan through Punjab without any delay. He said that electricity shortage has created anarchy-like situation in the country, particularly, in the province of the Punjab where not only the industrialists and the traders but people from all walks of life were staging protests.
The LCCI President said that the crisis in industrial sector is not only causing flight of capital and relocation of industrial units to the countries like Bangladesh and Malaysia but had also reduced government revenues drastically.
He said that unprecedented energy crisis has tarnished the image of the government, not only among the masses but also the foreign investors who are making way to the other countries of South Asia.
He said that business community wants to play role for the progress and prosperity of the country but the people sitting at the helm of affairs were doing the other way. Irfan Qaiser said that offer from the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the Pakistan's Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani will not only help in overcoming the energy crisis but would also strengthen the relations of the two neighbouring countries.
He urged the government to also go ahead with the Iranian gas pipeline project on a war footing, besides taking up other power generation projects and focusing on the exploitation of hydel and coal resources to have enough energy to meet domestic, industrial and agricultural needs.
The LCCI President hoped that the government would also allocate sufficient amount of money for Kalabagh Dam that is a natural site for a large reservoir that can go on feeding the national electricity grid and agricultural needs of water for year and years to come.