Energy is the key determinant of economic development of the country. Pakistan has been facing an unprecedented energy crisis for past few years as the demand and supply gap widens.

The energy availability has remained main impediment to economic growth and industrialization. In order to ensure energy supply, government should pursue policies to bridge the rising gap between supply and demand through exploitation of available domestic resources, Mahfooz Elahi, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has stated this in a statement.

He said that consumption of gas, electricity and coal has been increasing at an average of 6 percent, 4.9 percent and 9.1 percent per annum within 10 years. The government must look towards building power plants and tapping into alternative energy resources for meeting energy demands, he maintained.

ICCI President was of the view that potential of hydropower in Pakistan was around 50,000 MW, while total coal reserves in Pakistan were estimated to be around 185 billion tones. To meet the growing demand of energy, Government should exploit its domestic energy resources which would make the country self-reliant, he added.

He said that the industrial and infrastructure development hinged upon energy and ever-growing energy needs of the country could only be fulfilled if the available resources were fully utilized. He said that to fulfill the current demand of gas, government must execute gas pipeline projects.

ICCI President said that government must ensure to utilize funds allocation to built dams and water reservoirs. He said that every year a large amount of water is also wasted, that could be utilized by building small and medium size dams. President ICCI emphasized the Government to address these challenges on priority basis to save the country from further economic turmoil.