The business community has rejected further increase of Rs 1.67 per unit in power tariff, asking the government to withdraw this raise, otherwise, traders would have no other option except to take to streets. Anjuman-e-Tajran Pakistan President Khalid Pervez told Business Recorder that hike in electricity tariff was without any justification.
He asked the government to withdraw this increase; otherwise, traders across the country would observe strike to press the government to withdraw this increase. Pervez said on one hand, there was long hours of loadshedding while the government was making time and again increase in electricity tariff. He said business of traders had badly affected due to loadshedding but the government was showing indifferent attitude.
Present Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Irfan Qaiser Sheikh also took strong exception to another increase of Rs 1.67 per unit in power tariff and termed it a plan to turn the country into a marketplace instead of a manufacturing hub.
Irfan urged the government to refrain from any further increase in power tariff that was bound to give a death blow to its reputation. He said that despite making over 100 percent increase in the electricity tariff in the last three years the genie of circular debt could not be bottled while the power crisis are deepening with every passing day.
LCCI President said that the ongoing electricity outages had not only curtailed the industrial production by 50 percent while it has also eroded the competitiveness that is a key to have a place in the international market. How the industry would remain competitive at such a high price of electricity which is one of the basic industrial raw materials, he asked.
"We already have the highest tariff in our region as in India, the electricity tariff for industry is 10.5 cents, in Bangladesh 10.75 cents and in Sri Lanka it is again 10.75 cent whereas in Pakistan tariff is already 15 cents meaning that 45 percent higher as compared to the region. With the recent increase, we will have double the tariff of electricity what the regional countries are offering to their trade and industries leaving Pakistan totally uncompetitive and unviable in the international market, he said. The country had already lost a number of international markets like China, Bangladesh and India due to high cost of doing business and the decision to increase power tariff would make the Pakistani goods more uncompetitive," he added.
LCCI President said that the Ministry of Water and Power proposal was putting extra burden on the consumers who were paying their dues regularly and there were minimum line losses in their respective discos.
He stressed the need to impose higher tariff on those distribution companies which have registered higher losses and less recovery. He opined that the decision was bound to increase the incidence of electricity pilferage that already is 25 percent of the 22 percent line losses and eating up Rs 50-75 billion. He said that the business community was unable to understand that instead of taking measures to control line losses and enhance cheap power generation up to capacity, the policies were being evolved to add to the miseries of the business doing people.
Sheikh said that negative growth witnessed by the Large Scale Manufacturing sector was indeed an eye opener for the government. He said that the industry needed cheaper electricity to keep the units operational and to complete the export orders well within the given timeframe but only because of the shortage of electricity the exports were not up to the mark.
PML-N senior leader Muhammad Pervaiz Malik also rejected the hike in electricity tariff and termed it anti-people move of the sitting government. He said faulty policies of PPP regime and bad governance have caused manifold problems for the countrymen.