Power breakdowns wreak havoc in Karachi’s industrial areas

KE officials say utility faces shortage of 500MW, expects situation to improve after May 31

KARACHI: Power breakdowns in Karachi are affecting industrial production in the city, making it impossible for factories to sustain their daily production.

The unannounced load-shedding has now gone up to 12 hours in some industrial areas of the financial capital of Pakistan.  “Massive breakdowns in Korangi industrial area have become a routine for the last three days,” Masood Naqi, president of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) - one of the largest industrial zones in Karachi - told The Express Tribune.

Unlike residential areas, where the utility has devised a mechanism of systemic load-shedding K-Electric (KE) has exempted industries from power cuts for quite a long time mainly because of about 100% recovery rate.

Naqi said that KE officials have informed that there is a shortage of 500MW of electricity due to which the utility is resorting to massive load-shedding. “KE says the situation is expected to improve after May 31,” he added.

Industries that do not have stand-by generators are the most affected, as majority of them are small factories.

KATI president informed that towel manufacturers and other textile factories are bearing the brunt of the current breakdowns. SITE Association of Industry (SAI) President Asad Nisar said that the power breakdown in SITE industrial zone on Monday continued from noon to midnight.

He said that Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has provided 165 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) to KE, which is a good quantity of gas to normalise the pressure. Therefore, during the current hot summer season KE must use furnace oil and diesel for additional generation to reduce un-announced load-shedding.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2017.

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