Energy shortfall is taking a heavy toll on business and industry and government should take measures to tap alternative energy sources to cope with energy crisis.

This was said by Zahid Maqbool, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) while talking to a delegation of local industrialists.

He said that the country’s energy needs were expected to double in the next 20 years while the current dependence on fossil fuel resources could not meet this increased demand in any sustainable manner in the future.

He said that the current surge in the energy problem was putting multiple negative effects on the overall economy as industry was now operating only on 40-50 percent capacity. He said official reports also acknowledge that over 0.4 million industrial workers had lost their jobs while the industries were facing an annual monetary loss of over Rs.240 billion.

He said this situation demanded war-footing measures on the part of the government to bring about a reasonable level of relief to the people as well as to the business sector who were facing up to 20 hours of loadshedding, a situation that could have never been imagined in this age of advanced technology.

Industrialists said that our immediate neighbors China and India were making big strides in terms of economic growth as they were achieving  many times high annual GDP growth rate as compared to Pakistan while Pakistan was struggling to achieve just 3-3.5 percent GDP growth.

They said if energy crisis was not solved on urgent basis, the country would be left far behind in the race of economic development and would lose its market share in exports to its regional competitors. They said if current trend of energy crunch persisted, Pakistan would lose attraction to foreign investors as well.

Zahid Maqbool said that government should take measures to exploit all available alternative indigenous energy resources. He said government should first create conducive environment for domestic investors in energy sector and when they would came forward in a big way, their encouragement will ultimately attract more foreign investment in Pakistan.