ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders (ICST), on Sunday, asked the government to resolve the circular debt which has swelled to Rs800 billion, posing a serious threat to the economy.
Currently, the government is focusing on LNG which is cheaper than the hydel power but open to fluctuation in the international market, said ICST patron Shahid Rasheed Butt.
He said that government should pay proper attention to the hydel power projects that generate cheap electricity and are immune from external shocks.
Shahid Rasheed Butt said that power plants using imported fuel generate costly electricity while fluctuations in the oil prices result in miseries of the masses.
The energy sector has become dysfunctional because of the apathy of the successive governments; the PML-N leadership claimed to bury the circular debt before it came to power, he added.
He said that energy crisis in Pakistan is a result of decades of indifference and it cannot be resolved anytime soon and it will continue to harm masses and the economy.
He said that dysfunctional power sector continues to deprive 35 per cent of the population of grid electricity while the 65 percent have been facing load-shedding.
Pakistan fulfils 32 per cent of energy demand through imported oil which is the biggest hurdle in the ample power generation while the circular debt continues to push away the investors.
He said that power transmission and distribution system has developed irreparable faults and at many places it as old as the country is, adding that the power sector is a classic example of the bad governance.
