KARACHI: Traders’ help sought for electricity conservation
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, April 24: Keeping in view the time required by the KESC to add additional power generation capacity to overcome the load-shedding problem, the provincial and local administrations has sought the Karachi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and small traders’ cooperation for regulating staggered opening and early closing of at least 13 major city markets to conserve energy up to 114 MW and tide over the current power crisis.
This option was discussed when a delegation of the KCCI and small traders, led by KCCI president Majyd Aziz called on Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan on Tuesday. During the meeting the City Nazim Mustafa Kamal and the CCPO were also present.
A three-member committee comprising KCCI president, provincial secretary industries and the CCPO has been constituted to go into the details of the various proposals discussed in the meeting.
The meeting was focused not only on the energy crisis that had badly affected domestic consumers and the industries alike, and the proposal to open the markets around 9am and pulling the shutters down by 6pm and its possible impact on energy conservation was deliberated upon and in this context the use of generators in the early hours was also discussed.
Although the KCCI delegation was not averse to regulating the opening and closing of the markets but sought guarantees that the KESC would not resort to load-shedding during the day.
The proposal for fixing different tariffs for different peak hours cannot be ruled out as energy conservation measure, said the KCCI president Majyd Aziz.
But the business community was sceptic about the outcome because of the past experience of regulating the market timings.
They also suggested that power could be further conserved if the authorities concerned could ensure closure of marriage halls by 11pm. The proposal to switch off street lights after a certain timeframe was also not found feasible.
The governor assured the delegation that by the end of May additional power generation would be available with the KESC when its refurbished unit of Bin Qasim Power plant would become operational.
He also informed the KCCI delegation that a new power plant was also being set up to augment the generation capacity soon. The first 200MW plant project will soon be commissioned, he said. But the business community’s delegation insisted on seeing the plant site to asses the KESC’s claims in this regard.
The delegation demanded that the KESC officials should give a detailed briefing on the overall power situation.
It was said by the government and the KESC management that once it was hooked to Hub Power directly, instead of getting its supplies through Wapda and that too at a higher cost, the situation would improve in Karachi.
Despite the fact that Hub Power was operating at its full capacity, power supply to the city had not improved. Instead it had gone from bad to worse. It simply reflects management’s failure to asses the situation, said KESC insiders.
It was decided that the KCCI would cooperate with the government in making Saddar Town a model town. But many briefs have been handed over to lawyers to take the public utility to the court for losses caused by power outages.
The problem of power breakdowns is going to aggravate with the rising temperatures and all assurances by the KESC management were misleading, sources said.
They claim that $125 million loan secured by the utility, through Habib Bank led consortium of banks from the IFC and ADB, for improving power generation, would take at least 2 years to see additional power on the grid through the KESC’s own sources.
