ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has called upon the government to take urgent measures for reducing power sector losses in order to save the local industry from loadshedding.
With the efforts of the current government, energy crisis has been controlled that has provided good relief to the general public as well as the trade and industry, the president of ICCI, Sheikh Amir Waheed said in a press statement. He further said that losses of power sector were increasing rapidly and if urgent measures were not taken to curb them, loadshedding could return to the country in summer that would affect the business and industrial activities.
He said as per statement of Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Federal Minister for Power, despite reduction of 1.2 percent in transmission and distribution losses, the annual power sector losses were poised to reach Rs.360 billion this year that should be a cause of concern for the policymakers. It was encouraging that Pakistan was now surplus in energy generation, but increasing T&D losses would pose new challenges to the country, he added. He further said in 2013, annual T&D losses in Pakistan were Rs120 billion that have increased to Rs360 billion which showed that power companies have failed to overcome these losses. He said that government should pay urgent attention to this issue for remedial measures.