FPCCI slams K-Electric for 10-15 hours of loadshedding

KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Tuesday slammed the unscheduled, unrestricted and destructive loadshedding of 10-15 hours in the country’s biggest city, which was destroying local economic and commercial activities.

FPCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh slammed the power outages in a statement, and said the long hours of loadshedding have also been creating a crisis-like situation for many export-oriented industries and various other economic and commercial sectors.

He said that hundreds of business owners were contacting the FPCCI with their stories of unbearable losses and impending bankruptcies. “Business, industry and trade community in Karachi has already suffered financial losses running into tens of billions of rupees over the past four to six weeks due to unprecedented load shedding. Furthermore, there is no end to this ordeal in sight,” he lamented.

Speaking of the impact of loadshedding on the exporting industries, the FPCCI chief said that if the exports were affected due to load shedding, there would be further strain on the trade deficit, current account, rupee value and foreign exchange reserves.

The connection of all these issues with exports also meant that the “debilitating loadshedding in Karachi was an issue of national economic security”, Sheikh pointed out. “Additionally, credibility and goodwill is everything in export markets; and, when an export order is delayed or cancelled, it is very difficult for traders to regain the market access or orders.”

The FPCCI president said that if Karachi’s economic and commercial activities were disrupted, the impact would be felt across the entire country.

He demanded the federal and provincial governments to take immediate action at the highest level to tackle the situation, while taking all stakeholders into confidence over the way the matter would be resolved.

Raising concerns about the threat to the law and order situation, the FPCCI chief said that lack of empathy from the K-Electric towards the people of Karachi, its majority consumers, could aggravate the situation.

He accused the power company of mismanagement and maladministration, while calling upon the management of K-Electric to come up with an elaborate and workable solution for the business community of the city.

On July 1, K-Electric announced a rationalised loadshed schedule for its customers. It said the shortfall in the utility company’s territory has increased from an average of 250MW-350MW to almost 450MW-500MW due to rising temperatures and curtailed fuel supply.

The private utility company said it was also facing a power supply constraint due to reduced gas supplies from the Sui Southern Gas Company, which was down to approximately 90MMCFD versus the 200MMCFD gas that was supplied last year.

Consequently, two plants in the utility’s system, one at SITE and one at Korangi, with a combined generation of 200MW, remained non-operational. It should be noted that a large number of industries are established in both these localities.