KARACHI, May 22: The Sindh government should immediately activate the Power Generation Policy 2002, so that growing power shortage in the city could be met through the promotion of small power producers having generating capacity up to 50mw.

"There is no immediate solution for meeting growing power shortage which results in heavy load-shedding because the generating capacity of the KESC is much below the current demand of energy in the city." lamented an industrialist.

However, if the Sindh government activates the Power Generation Policy 2002, under which the federal government has allowed provinces to deal with all matters in respect of power generation up to 50mw, then some relief could be seen in the near future.

There is a growing concern amongst business and industry that power shortage was not only disturbing normal life in the city but was also causing heavy production losses to the industry.

The recent power riots in the city has given new dimension to the problem of law and order which compelled the business community to approach Sindh government for seeking quick and short-cut solution to the problem.

"It is a vicious circle and we must come out of it at the earliest because long hours load-shedding was causing riots in the city and heavy production losses to the industry leaving negative impact on investment climate," vice president FPCCI Engr M A Jabbar asserted.

He said that the KESC having power generating capacity between 900 to 1000mw against a total power demand of 2000mw would always face shortage because presently the utility company was getting around 400mw from Independent Power Plants (IPPs) and around 400 to 600mw from Wapda source.

Mr Jabbar said that power given by Wapda was always subject to availability which means that the KESC consumers could not fully rely upon this utility company until some long lasting solution was found.

Consequently, he said there was urgent need that the Sindh government should activate the Power Generation Policy 2002, under which the federal government has allowed provinces to deal with all matters related to power generation up to 50mw.

He suggested that the Sindh government should allow the Department of Irrigation and Power to create proactive cell to help in promotion and establishment of small power plants.

At least in the foreseeable future there was no hope that the KESC would bridge the gap. Even if the Hubco was linked with the KESC system it would, too, take two to three years, he added.

The business and industry are faced with a typical situation and fear that in the quota free era starting from 2005, it would be difficult for them to meet the quality and timely delivery schedule given by their buyers.

Mian Zahid Hussain, the chairman Korangi Industrial Area, said that industrial growth was directly linked with the availability of power and other infrastructure facilities but unfortunately "we are lagging far behind in both the cases."

He said there was rapid growth in energy demand and in the near future it would be one of the biggest issue if no appropriate measures are taken to resolve this grave issue.

The upcoming industrial areas like North Karachi also known SITE II industrial area, Textile City, Korangi Industrial area where PIDC is setting up another industrial area, are some of those industrial areas which would immediately demand power, he added.