Power cuts: Tanneries lose Rs500m in 3 days

KARACHI: The tannery zone has experienced four hours of load-shedding in the last three days which they claim has led to losses of Rs500 million.

The Pakistan Tanners Association’s Aziz Ahmed expressed concern over the harm done by the Karachi Electric Supply Company’s (KESC) abrupt decision to hold power cuts.

He said that the exporters are worried about getting their orders done. “Without informing the industry, KESC began load-shedding on February 22 under the pretext that SSGC has curtailed its gas supply due to which electricity generation has dropped significantly,” said Aziz.

The chairman added that if their gas supply is low, KESC should use furnace oil instead of subjecting the entire city to darkness. He said that a significant part of the tanning industry processes exportable leather and other products.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2011.