Commitment by the govt has raised the expectations of industrial sector without taking stock of ability to meet it
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan confronts innumerable problems today. The gravity of these problems is serious enough to send shivers down the spines of every citizen of this country. Whether it is rampant corruption, gas shortages, water shortages, the miserable law and order situation, rapidly declining foreign investment, terrorism, we seem to be flooded with crises.
The most critical of these problems are the devastating electricity and gas shortages. These two problems have acquired critical dimensions because they are directly impacting our industries and thereby, the economy of the country. Not that the government is ignorant of the gravity of the situation but things have become extremely bad, vis-a-vis these two major issues. Initially, it was decided that the government, due to critical electricity and gas shortages, would reduce electricity and gas supplies to the industries. But realising that this action would have a serious adverse impact on the economy, it has decided to retract its earlier decision on the matter. The latest decision of the government to provide uninterrupted electricity and gas to the industries sounds good. However, what boggles the minds of those who are fully aware of the gravity of the situation is how would the government fulfil this commitment with no improvement whatsoever in the current state of these two vital energy resources?
The commitment made by the government has raised the expectations of the industrial sector without taking stock of its ability to meet it. The fact remains that the government’s promise is not subject to the industries across the country facing electricity and gas load-shedding, while it simultaneously says that there will be no increase in consumer load-shedding. This promise can only be fulfilled if there is a significant increase in the production of electricity and gas, something that the government has not been able to do thus far. We can only keep our fingers crossed and hope that the authorities would somehow succeed in fulfilling the commitment that they have made. If the promise is kept, it may bring some relief to the domestic consumers of electricity and gas who stand equally brutally battered by the menace of electricity and gas shortages.
M Fazal Elahi
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2014.
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