Power outages to hit production: LCCI

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce has expressed deep concern over repeated power outages and feared that it would hit the industrial production.
In a statement, LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that power outages, coupled with weaknesses in transmission and distribution system need immediate attention of the concerned authorities.
He said that energy is a key to development and uninterrupted and affordable supply of power is essential for accelerated economic growth. He said that energy is also an important economic indicator and its availability/shortage encourages or discourages the local and foreign investors.
The LCCI president said that energy shortage/high cost in Pakistan has underlined the need for diversification from conventional and costly power generation methods to low-cost and multi-purpose methods and technologies for energy efficiency.
He said that Pakistan cannot afford to continue with costly imported oil as trade deficit has already has become a biggest challenge for the economy. He said that promotion of other apposite resources for power generation would drastically reduce the oil import bill and shrink the gap between imports and exports.
LCCI Senior Vice President Ali Hussam Asghar and Vice President Mian Zahid Jawaid Ahmad called for energy efficiency measures saying that it would save huge capital, improve the economy and the environment. They said that government should launch awareness campaign for energy conservation and should also promote modern technologies in this regard. They said that energy-intensive industries must adopt energy efficiency measures that would give huge financial benefits.