LAHORE, June 2: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the Punjab government to allocate maximum funds for electricity generation through coal in the upcoming budget as 12 to 14 hours power cuts have totally crippled the economy.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh suggested that the government should utilise coal for cheaper electricity that would cost only Rs8 to Rs8.50 per unit against the thermal electricity that was Rs16 plus per unit.

He said it was very unfortunate that Pakistan at the moment was producing only one per cent of its electricity by coal while India was making around 70 per cent of its total electricity by coal, China 80 per cent, South Africa 93 per cent, Poland 92 per cent, Australia 77 per cent, Kazakhstan 70 per cent and the United States 49 per cent.

The LCCI president said Punjab would become a hub of economic activities and its progress would be exemplary if the provincial government came up with a comprehensive coal policy in its budget.

“The budget document will be more meaningful and result-oriented if the Punjab government successfully satiates energy needs of the trade and industry in the province that is the hardest hit in the recent energy shortages,” he said.

Qaiser Sheikh said it was deplorable that in India businessmen were doing their business or running their industrial units with peace of mind and full concentration, but in Pakistan the industrial closures and flight of capital was order of the day.

He said the government’s reliance on thermal generation had reversed the energy mix that needed to be corrected in the larger interest of the country.

He said historically, coal had been used as a major source of energy for hundreds of years. The industrial revolution and enhanced use of electricity was also due to coal. Until sixties, coal was the single largest source of primary energy. Large discoveries of oil and gas resulted in massive switchover from coal to furnace oil and gas. However, once again there was a shift back to use of coal as a major source of energy. Many developed and developing countries had already reverted back to coal. The transition was being facilitated by Clean Coal Technologies and availability of coal at competitive price, he said.

He said the country at the moment was spending billions of dollars annually to meet its primary energy requirements. Oil and POL import bill was expected to further increase due to inadequate gas supply, he said.