FBATI demands power subsidy

KARACHI: The president of the Federal B Area Trade and Industry (FBATI) association in Karachi, Syed Raza Hussain, on Wednesday urged the government on Wednesday to provide a subsidized electricity tariff to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the city to boost economic activity.

Hussain made the appeal during a meeting with a delegation of K-Electric. He said the government should treat the traders of Karachi at par with the rest of the country by facilitating them with the subsidized cost of electric units, mainly to SMEs, which have suffered severe losses due to the high cost of electricity.

Hassain also demanded that the government should pass on the benefit of incremental units’ consumption of electricity to the industrial consumers in Karachi, as it has done for other cities in the country.

“Industries in Karachi neither received subsidy on account of the incremental unit consumption of electricity last year nor this year but this particular relief has been provided to industrialists in different cities of the country,” he said.

He stressed the need for a close coordination between the industries and the power utility companies to ensure uninterrupted power supplies to the industrial zones, including the area under FBATI.