KARACHI – Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said nationwide load shedding ahead of Eid is the outcome of the mismanagement of the officials concerned.
He said that masses and economy is paying the price for the incompetence of the officials concerned and the country is facing losses to the tune of billions of rupees per day.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that country’s production capacity is more than the demand but shortfall has jumped to 6000 megawatts.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that repeated power crisis has raised questions about the ability of concerned officials as the recent crisis is a result of the wrong and delayed decisions.
The crisis is a result of ignoring LNG imports while the furnace oil was already in short supply in the country while gas scarcity has also resulted in the closure of thousands of industries and businesses leaving many unemployed.
The concerned officials had booked two cargos of LNG for the second and third week of July but one was sold for profit while the fate of the second shipment is still unknown pushing the country into crisis.
The production from Mangla Dam is down, Tarbela Dam is not producing power as expected, lightning struck China Hub power plant stopping production resulting in reduced production, he said.
The business leader noted that power plants are not getting gas as required, the power plant of Haveli Bhadur Shah and Jamshoro is operating below potential, while Muzaffargarh and Hubco Power plants have been closed.
CNG sector has been closed while general industry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab has also been closed hitting jobs, revenue, and production, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the price of LPG is increasing almost daily and now the LPG association is threatening a countrywide strike which should be tackled on priority.
