Almost all industrial units in the city's seven industrial estates remained closed on Friday following a major power breakdown occurred shortly after drizzling began in the metropolis. The industrial production came to a sudden halt following a major fault occurred in the NTDC, causing huge losses to industries.
Except for 30 percent industrial units, having their own captive power generating facilities, production activities in the remaining 70 percent industrial units remained suspended because of prolonged power outages. Sources in the industrial estates while complaining that the industry had suffered heavy production losses urged the government to chalk out a comprehensive plan to cope up with such a situation.
Industrial activities in North Karachi, Federal B' Area, Site, Site (Superhighway), Landi and Korangi remained suspended due to non-availability of electricity. Deploring that the ultimate sufferers are all the consumers of K-E, Federal B' Area Association of Trade and Industry's former chairman Masroor Alvi said: "It is our peak production time as industrial units are nowadays busy in completing orders of fast-approaching Eid festival and exporting material." He urged the government to devise a contingency plan to meet such eventualities. According to sources, a number of textile mills have been using generators in the absence of electricity and those unable to use the generators because of high cost of fuel had already curtailed their production.