Chambers of Commerce blast inflated power tariffs

KARACHI: Pakistan’s business community leaders on Saturday unanimously demanded of the government for decreasing power rates, ARY News reported.

“We have to pay 2,100 billion rupees for capacity charges this year,” the chambers of commerce of Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad have said. “Either the government save 240 million people of the country or 42 IPPs,” the chambers officials said while commenting over the inflated power tariffs in the country.

Senior Vice President of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FCCI) Sajjad Arshad said that the traders are not rioters, but the water has now gone above the head. “If the problem not resolved promptly, it could go beyond the control,” he warned.

“There are 130 independent power producers (IPPs) operating in the country”, he said.

LCCI’s Vice President Zafar Mehmood Chaudhry while calling agreements with the IPPs as ‘cruel’, said that 25% industries have been shut down in two years. The electricity price in the country has been 25 to 30 rupees per unit, he said.

“It is surprising that this big secret that we have to pay 2,100 billion rupees for capacity charges this year, had remained under the carpet till now,” another chamber official Johar Ali said.