KARACHI: President of the Site Association of Industry (SAI) Abdul Rasheed has expressed serious concerns over electricity load-shedding of over eight hours, from midnight to 8am, in the SITE area on a daily basis.

He said that load-shedding is bound to have adverse effects on the economy, particularly on export industries. So, the government should ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to industries to keep the wheels of industry moving and to ship export orders on time.

The SAI chief said that industrial production is being badly affected due to eight-hour-long outages and it has become difficult for owners of industrial units to produce goods as per demand.

The industries are already facing serious problems like low gas pressure and liquidity crunch, amongst other issues, which are affecting industrial production. Prolonged outages are proving to be disastrous for the industries.

“The industries survived during the COVID-19 period with extreme difficulty and there is a need to support and promote industries. But, unfortunately, problems are being created for industrial units. Promotion of industries is the only solution to... bring the country out of economic crisis,” he said, adding that if anti-industry moves are not stopped, there will be no option for the owners to close down their industrial units.

Mr Rasheed urged the government and K-Electric to immediately end night-time load-shedding in the SITE area and consult the stakeholders before taking any such step in future.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022