The Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board and National Business Group Pakistan, President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Monday that the manufacturing sector’s future has become bleak due to high electricity rates and taxes.

He said many industrialists are investing their resources and profits in trading and gradually withdrawing from manufacturing, which is dangerous for the country’s future. Speaking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the power sector has become a problem pushing the economy into a quagmire, resulting in investors fleeing the country.

At present, the electricity sector loses trillions of rupees annually, but its employees and officers have become very rich due to rampant corruption.

Mian Zahid Hussain said governments had made generous agreements with IPPs, but people and businesses face its impact. He noticed that people pay for electricity they don’t use and for exemplary electricity sector corruption.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the electricity consumption in the country is continuously decreasing while theft is increasing. If the system goes down, the profit of IPPs will also end.

All stakeholders should resolve this issue for the country’s economic recovery, and no sector should profit at the nation’s expense going forward. He noted that the situation will only worsen unless the IPPs and the government reach a fair and amicable agreement.

Mian Zahid Hussain believes the current situation is detrimental for IPPs because their payments are unbearable. We need to strike a balance between the interests of electricity producers and consumers, but unfortunately, Nepra is not prepared to contribute positively in this area.

According to Mian Zahid Hussain, the heinous role of IPPs exposes the need for an immediate ban on establishing new IPPs, extending their contracts, and equalising these power plants’ tariffs with those of neighbouring countries.

Mian Zahid Hussain further said that a few years ago, electricity was available at less than 15 rupees per unit. Still, due to severe inflation, the common man has to pay more than 60 rupees per unit. If the owners of private power plants continue to lack flexibility, the situation could shift in either direction.