LAHORE: Former caretaker prime minister of Pakistan Anwar ul Haq Kakar has said that the issue of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) is a matter for the entire nation besides the business community and instead of scoring points, we will find a viable solution through dialogue.
He said this while addressing a business conference organized by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Conference and Chambers of Industry (FPCCI) in Lahore as president of FPCCI’s Economic Policy Think Tank for Business Development.
Kakar said the issue of independent power producers is being discussed in the Senate. “We have fought for people’s rights before, we will fight this battle and those who are spreading despair over the future of the country on social media should know that the future of the country is bright.
Former Federal Minister of Trade and Interior Dr. Gohar Ejaz and Economic Policy Think Tank for Business Development Chairman FPCCI said the government’s negligence towards IPPs is borne by the people. An IPP audit should be conducted. All of Pakistan is saying with one voice that we are affected by IPP and we have to find a solution to end the IPP deals. We never want our country to face crisis but policy should be made to move Pakistan forward. There is electricity, but the problem is the cost of electricity. How can we compete with the world with expensive electricity, he asked.
UBG chairman SM Tanveer said they would approach the Supreme Court and SIFC to explain the real problem and also a satisfactory solution to pull the country out of the existing economic mess.
FPCCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh said that the business friendly policy of Anwar ul Haq Kakar will definitely bear fruit and increase the prestige of the fraternity.
UBG Secretary General Zafar Bakhtawari said that Pakistan is full of investment and business opportunities but the only need is to formulate economic policies wisely after consulting the real stakeholders. He said that the IPP and the existing crisis are linked to the future of Pakistan and added that the country is in an emergency situation and the leadership will have to take aggressive decisions to come out of the existing economic crisis.
FPCCI Vice President and Lahore Regional Office Chairman Zaki Ejaz expressed gratitude to the participants by saying that together we will move the country forward to make it prosperous.
Shaikh Khalid Tawab, former SVP, FPCCI and senior UBG leader Riaz ud Din Shaikh also highlighted the business community’s difficulties with ease of doing business and impressed upon the government to expeditiously address the grievances for the economic betterment of the country.
Earlier in the conference, the business community demonstrated its unity against deals with independent power producers and called for dialogue and policy changes to address “unsustainable” electricity costs.
Due to bad deals, capacity charges have to be paid and electricity prices are Pakistan’s biggest problem right now. Annual capacity charges of Rs. 2000 billion is taken from the pockets of 24 million people and 25% of industries have already been closed. A country cannot pay with such IPP agreements.
