Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) in a statement said that Government has declared the year 2009 as an Industrial Year but decisions like gas load-management plan will not serve the objectives of this declaration adding that suspending gas to industries for two days would have negative impact on business activities as it will stall industrial growth, discourage investment, affect country’s exports and give rise to inflation.

Zahid Maqbool, President ICCI said before taking such measures, government should always take business community into full confidence so that more viable solutions of problems could be explored with mutual consent to protect the economic interests of the country. He said the alternative fuel use for continuing industrial production will enhance the production cost further affecting competitiveness of Pakistani products in international market.

He said due to chronic power crisis, already the exports of Pakistan have declined by 19 percent during first quarter of current fiscal year to $ 4.634 billion from $ 5.711 billion during same period of last fiscal year. Similarly FDI has also come down drastically this fiscal year to $463 million compared to $ 1.117 billion during corresponding period of last fiscal year and stressed that government should avoid taking decisions that would further affect country’s productivity, exports and FDI.

Zahid Maqbool also showed concern over government decision of not providing any new gas connection to industry between December 2009 to December 2010 which will discourage new opportunities of investment in industrial sector. He said the widening demand & supply gap is primarily the result of stagnant supply of energy as there has been no long-term planning and sizeable investment in the energy sector since long.

He said suspending gas to CNG stations for two days will add new problems to people and will give rise to long queues on these stations. He said government should evolve a comprehensive strategy to improve both energy availability and power production by exploiting country’s immense potential of generating energy through natural resources.

He further emphasized for curtailing transmission & distribution losses which account for 40 percent loss of electricity in some cases.

He said that the present economic conditions demand increasing our interaction with major trading partners around the globe to promote exports and added that measures like gas load-management will thwart our efforts to achieve desired goals. Therefore, he called upon the government to have a second look on  this decision in the larger interest of the country.