Former President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Dr. Shahid Rasheed Butt on Wednesday warned that avoiding reforms is keeping energy irreparable that can bankrupt the country.
Despite the insistence of international institutions and the business community critical reforms in the energy sector are being avoided which is hurting the masses and the business community while it has the potential to bankrupt the country, he said.
Shahid Rasheed Butt said that the losses of Pakistan’s power sectors are the highest in the region. The official power sector losses are Rs320 billion while independent experts view losses at Rs 400 billion while the infamous circular debt has crossed the mark of Rs2.27 trillion becoming a grave threat for the economy.
He said that power tariff is being increased regularly, which will trigger theft by consumers as the government is ignoring reforms and not privatizing DISCOs despite the insistence of the multilateral institutions.
Mr. Butt regretted that there has been very little focus on reducing losses and upgrading transmission and distribution capacity which has compromised the income of the masses and the ability of the country to produce goods at affordable prices.
He noted that some bureaucrats in the gas utilities are trying their best to fail the LNG project while others have delayed purchases resulting in losses of billions.
Millions are being paid in terminal charges but the private sector is not being allowed to import gas.
The continued supply of LNG can give new lease of life to fertiliser, textile, CNG and general industry but this is not acceptable to a mafia that is playing with the fate of the country for petty gains, he said.
