ICCI Urges Govt to Curb Rising Loadshedding

The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has called upon the government to take urgent measures to curb the rising power loadshedding as it is badly impacting business and industrial activities. Addressing a meeting of the business community convened to discuss the loadshedding issue, ICCI President Muhammad Shakeel Munir said that all the major industrial cities of the country are facing electricity loadshedding of 4 to 10 hours daily due to which the production activities are badly suffering. He said that rural areas are also reportedly facing 10 to 12 hours of loadshedding which is making the life of the common man more miserable. The ICCI President said that the country has an installed capacity of over 39000 MW, but currently, the system is producing up to 16000 MW of electricity, which shows the inefficient performance of the power sector. He said that Pakistan’s power sector has been facing losses in the distribution system for years, costing the national exchequer billions of rupees annually. He said that the average transmission and distribution losses in Pakistan are around 20 percent, which is much higher compared to other countries. He said that the government should take measures on war footing to improve recovery of outstanding bills and reduce transmission and distribution losses which would help in minimizing loadshedding and saving businesses and industries from losses.