LAHORE, Aug 17: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said that government must ensure equal supply of electricity throughout the country, particularly in Punjab which is severely affected by the power crisis and lost three per cent of its GDP last year.

In a statement issued on Friday, LCCI president Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that long power cuts were affecting the production capacity of industries in the province and as a result many units had curtailed operations.

“Despite a consensus decision at the Energy Conference held on April 9, 2012 and a pledge by for equal load shedding across Pakistan, electricity consumers in Punjab continue to suffer from unjust and prolonged load shedding,” Sheikh said.

The consumers of efficient distribution companies with lowest line losses and highest recovery ratio are being treated unfairly, he added.

“It is very unfortunate that loadshedding in Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Lahore is 10 to 18 hours while in Hyderabad 4 to 8 hours, Karachi 2 hours, Nawab Shah 6 to 8 hours, Peshawar 6 to 10 hours, Quetta 4 to 8 hours, Rawalpindi 8 to 14 hours and Sukkur 6 to 8 hours.

Meanwhile, the recovery of the bills in Faisalabad is 99.8 per cent, Gujranwala 98.8 per cent, Lahore 98.1 per cent, while in Hyderabad it is 59.1 per cent, Karachi 85.6 per cent, Peshawar 78.4 per cent and in Quetta 41 per cent. Line losses in Peshawar are 35 per cent, in Hyderabad 34 per cent, Quetta 18 per cent, Lahore 13 per cent, Gujranwala 12 per cent, Faisalabad 11 per cent and Islamabad 10 per cent,” the LCCI statement read.

The LCCI president said that Punjab contributes nearly two thirds to the GDP of Pakistan, adding: “Punjab pays for 80 per cent of electricity bills and gets only 60 per cent of electricity units which is nothing short of injustice.”

He said the Energy Conference 2012 had pledged to reduce and equalise load shedding throughout the country, yet the situation shows no improvement.