Karachi: Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala and President SITE Association of Industry Riaz Uddin, have condemned the unbearable increase in electric tariff as a result of forced withdrawal of Rs. 19.99/kWh effective 1st March 2023. Unfortunately, this abrupt tariff hike was also backed by NEPRA.
Jointly addressing a very large gathering of affected SMEs situated in SITE area, they said that this act of the government is detrimental for exporters as most of the SMEs affected are indirect exporters and are closely weaved into the entire supply chain of exporting industries.
President KCCI Tariq Yusuf, Chief coordinator SITE Salim Parekh, Vice Chairman BMG Jawed Bilwani, SVP SITE Abdul Kadir Bilwani, VC Hussain Mossani, former Chairman SITE Younus Bashir, Majyd Aziz and Asad Nisar, immediate past president Abdul Rasheed were also attended the meeting.
Zubair Motiwala further said that in such difficult times when the nation is in dire need of foreign exchange, this anti-competition move will further erode the competitiveness of the local exporting industries, resulting in further shrinkage of exports which stood at USD 32 billion in FY 2021-22 and are feared to go down to USD 27-28 billion in the current fiscal year.
The entire gathering of more than 150 factories, employing more than 100,000 workers have unanimously demanded that the RCET should be restored/continued in line with the earlier decision of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) back in October 2022.
