The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has expressed resentment over excessive electricity loadshedding in the Small Industrial Estate, Kohat Road, Peshawar. The issue was raised during a meeting with a delegation of Small Industrial Estate who met with the SCCI president, Engr Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz, here at the Chamber House on Tuesday.

The delegation of small industrialists apprised the meeting about unnecessary power outages in the industrial estate and asked the SCCI to take up the issue with Pesco and authorities concerned to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to their small industrial units.

Maqsood Pervaiz slammed the suspension of electricity for several hours on the pretext of necessary maintenance work and termed it unjustifiable and an unwise step of Pesco, which was stagnating industrial growth. This could trigger a wave of massive unemployment in the province, he said.

The SCCI president said that Pesco's move was tantamount to closing down industries. He said that the Small Industrial Development Board (SIDB) had already deposited payment in December last year for installation of an independent electricity feeder in the Small Industrial Estate.

However, he regretted that work had not yet been initiated on the independent feeder. The industrial growth is already sluggish due to unfavorable conditions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while the prolonged electricity suspension would trigger closure of the already established industries, which will not only be proved detrimental to the economy, but it would also generate unemployment, the SCCI chief said.

Maqsood Pervaiz said electricity and gas were the primary requirements of the industries which must get uninterrupted supply of these utilities in order to achieve the government's target of industrial growth and development.