For the economic development of a country, industrial growth has great significance, but in Pakistan industrial activity has slowed down, even the number of sick industries is on rise due to shortage of energy and non-exploitation of available alternate sources of energy and poor polices of the government, Mahfooz Elahi, President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has said addressing a meeting of industrial committee of ICCI.

President said that successive governments have badly failed in building dams and utilizing the available huge sources of coal to produce electricity to meet the energy demands of the country and to get rid of load shedding.

He said that as a result of gradual increase in the electricity, gas and oil prices, the manufacturing cost is on rise, which makes different products uncompetitive in the international market. He lamented on the poor governance, and delay in taking positive measures for the consistent and uninterrupted supply of electricity and gas to the industrial and commercial consumers.

Mahfooz Elahi said that for how long, our economy keeps on crippling due the energy load management programs that have not only badly damaged the economy of Pakistan but has also been a cause of unemployment and inflation.

President said that our policymakers must learn lessons from the result oriented policies of the fast growing neighboring economies, which despite the influence of global economic and financial crisis, have shown tremendous relicense and growth.

He said that industrial development plays a vital role for generating economic activity and employment to thousands of people but scarcity of basic ingredients like gas and electricity has created enormous problems and this element is also greatly discouraging the foreign investment in the country.

Mahfooz Elahi said due to gas load shutdown, closure of steel furnaces, oil and ghee mills, soap and chemical units, has created great problems of unemployment for thousands of workers, which is a matter of big concern.