By By our correspondent
Nowadays, non-availability of sufficient energy was one of the major bottlenecks in the foreign and local investment that further hampers the economic growth of the country. Pakistan is presently energy shortage of 4000 megawatts while Pakistan has lot of potential to generate energy through coal and hydroelectric sources, therefore, he stressed for the need to exploit these energy sources to meet the rising energy demand. He said government should do proactive planning keeping in view future energy needs so that within next 3-4 years Pakistan could become an energy surplus country instead of energy deficit country, president Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Muhammad Ijaz Abbasi, stated while commenting on burning issue of energy crisis in the country which is also causing extreme inconvenience and discomfort to the people.
The 168 million people strong Pakistan is facing a serious shortage of electricity. To worsen the crisis, the external factors like global hike in petroleum prices have massively jacked up food inflation.
New government had made announcements about energy conversation, but nothing concrete seems to be done so far beyond distributing millions of energy savers bulb. Governmentís attempt to resort to load shedding, as a tool, to manage the power crisis is producing negative results for the economy.
Abbasi said industry, trade, agriculture and many other sectors of the economy are badly suffering due to this problem which is adversely affecting the economic activity. All these put together will have a cumulative negative impact on economic growth.
He said long term solution to this problem is to generate more power while government can mitigate its bad effects by adopting some short term measures. He said satisfactory solution of this problem needs proper forecasting of energy needs and taking the necessary actions to install sufficient capacities to meet the demand of the country.
ICCI President said non-availability of sufficient power has a negative impact on investments, both local and foreign. He said the basic infrastructures include the availability of power as an essential requirement and a key component for accelerated economic growth, therefore, government should take the necessary steps to generate power to match the demand on a war footing basis while government should also take some steps to ease the situation, in the short run, to help alleviate the problem of the masses.
Giving some suggestions about short term measures to alleviate harmful effects of energy crisis, Muhammad Ijaz Abbasi said government should ban pompous lightings at shopping centers, ceremonies, weddings, parties, switch its massive petrol guzzler transport fleet to CNG, promote the use of small cars, arrange CNG buses for public transport which will also solve traffic jams on roads and limit the use of air-conditioning as well as design energy efficient offices.
He said by replacing conventional lights, bulbs with energy savers, observing daylight saving timings and five-day working week, government can conserve sufficient energy in the country. He said hoardings consume lot of energy and suggested to close hoardings lighting at night to save energy.
Moreover, he emphasized upon the government to prioritize new energy generation projects and facilitate the use of alternate energy generation sources like solar, wind and biogas.
Muhammad Ijaz Abbasi said government should stop load shedding at night because after toiling for whole working day, working people need sound sleep but load shedding at night disturbs their sleep which also reflects badly on their performance, ultimately affecting the productivity of commercial establishments and industrial units.
President ICCI said that government is the biggest employer in Pakistan and owns the largest establishments where energy is used and mostly misused in a wanton manner while there is no check on how electricity, petrol and natural gas and even water are consumed, so a large portion goes waste.