In a statement issued here, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Amir Waheed urged the government to take urgent measures to reduce power sector losses in order to save the local industry from the loadshedding problems.

He said that with the efforts of the current government, energy crisis has been controlled, providing relief to the general public as well as the trade and industry.

However, he said the losses of power sector were increasing rapidly and if urgent measures were not taken to cub them, loadshedding could return to the country in summer that would affect the business and industrial activities.

He said as per statement of Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Federal Minister for Power, despite reduction of 1.2 percent in transmission and distribution losses, the annual power sector losses were poised to reach Rs.360 billion this year that should be a cause of concern for the policymakers.

He said it was encouraging that Pakistan was now surplus in energy generation, but increasing T&D losses would pose new challenges to the country.

He said in 2013, annual T&D losses in Pakistan were Rs.120 billion that have increased to Rs.360 billion which showed that power companies have failed to overcome these losses and urged the government for paying urgent attention to this issue for remedial measures.