KARACHI: President, Federal B Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBATI), Syed Raza Hussain, expressed concerns about the difficulties faced by the industrial sector of Karachi and said that due to lack of timely decision making, the application of subsidy is delayed and due to legal obstacles, the products prices increased.

On the other hand, the steel industry is facing serious difficulties due to the extraordinary delay in the petition filed by K Electric in the NEPRA Appellate Tribunal against the concession package given to industrial consumers.

President FBATI, Syed Raza Hussain further said that the government had allocated a subsidy of Rs45 billion in the budget, but the subsidy was provided to other industries of the country apart from the industries of Karachi, which is unfair to Karachi, the economic capital of Pakistan. He urged the government to release subsidies immediately so that the cost of production can be reduced.

Raza Hussain demanded the Energy Minister to subsidize the excess use of electricity in winter to reduce capacity charges. He said that the delay in the decision of the tribunal has increased the difficulties of the industrial sector due to the increase in the cost of production due to which thousands of industrial units are on the verge of bankruptcy.

He also appealed to Energy Minister Muhammad Ali and Chairman NEPRA to solve the problems faced by the industry by taking an urgent decision of the tribunal considering the economic conditions of the country. While reporting to the government, Raza Hussain said that in the current situation, when there is lack of investment in the country, the difficulties of the industrial sector should not be increased.

He requested the Caretaker Prime Minister, Federal Energy Minister and other concerned authorities to take immediate notice of the problems faced by the industries and release the subsidy immediately.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023