Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has urged the government to take urgent measures to overcome the energy shortage as it would affect the economic activities besides making life of the common man more miserable in this sweltering heat.
Muhammad Shakeel Munir, President ICCI said in a statement expressed concerns over the power crisis in the country as the power shortage has reportedly shot up to 6000 to 7000 MW.
He said that menace of load shedding had swept across the country leaving the businesses and the homes in the dark at a time when the temperatures were on the rise. He said that the urban areas were reportedly experiencing 6 to 10 hours loadshedding and rural areas 8 to 16 hours loadshedding, which showed that the energy crisis had worsened in the country.
He said that the Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had assured to end the loadshedding soon, which was encouraging, but the situation demanded war footing measures to tackle this serious crisis.
The ICCI president said that energy was the key requirement for trade and industrial activities while the uninterrupted and affordable power supply was essential for accelerated economic growth of the country. He said that the electricity was an important economic indicator as its availability or shortage encouraged or discouraged the local and foreign investors.
