A meeting was held at the Governor House on Tuesday in which industrialists, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) officials, Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) representatives and other stakeholders participated.
Chairman Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati), Jauhar Ali Qandhari, said: “The meeting was helpful but it is a cosmetic solution. The government needs to solve the problem on a permanent basis otherwise it will pop up again in a few weeks,” he said.
Qandhari said that Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) informed about an overall gas shortage of 300 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) including a 65-mmcfd increase in demand this year.
SSGC is providing 50 mmcfd of gas to the upcountry, which should be diverted to the Sindh province as it was short of gas, he suggested. This shortfall of gas and electricity will increase next year and the federal government should sit down with all stakeholders and resolve the issue, he added.
The industrial zones faced 12 hours of power outages on Monday but the shutdown was reduced to eight hours on Tuesday after improvement in gas supply to KESC from SSGC.
“With increase in gas supply to 80 mmcfd, the KESC has immediately reverted to zero outages in all five industrial zones of Karachi,” said a spokesperson for KESC but added that “to maintain stability in demand and supply our gas requirement is still 110 mmcfd.”
He said the company hoped that the situation will improve in the next few days, adding that the zero outages policy has been implemented for more than 15 months in industrial zones.
Earlier, KESC had asked SSGC to provide 110 mmcfd so that it can provide uninterrupted power to the five industrial zones.
Managing Director SSGC, Dr Faizullah Abbasi, at a press conference on Monday expressed the intention to supply 110 mmcfd of gas to KESC but said that he cannot immediately do so owing to shortage in the system.
The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) hoped that the issue will be settled within few days.
The Sindh governor also constituted a committee to look into the issue of extensive power outages. Adviser to Chief Minister Sindh on Investment, Zubair Motiwala, would head the committee.
Other members of the committee would be Managing Director KESC Tabish Gauhar, Managing Director SSGC Dr Faizullah Abbasi, President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Muhammad Saeed Shafiq, Vice President KCCI, Junaid Esmail Makda and former chairman Korangi Association of Trade and Industry, Mian Zahid Hussain.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2011.
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