Karachi tormented by new wave of outages

by Sanjay Jha | December 25, 2008 at 08:09 pm

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Pakistan suffers acute power shortages because of inadequate generating capacity and theft of electricity from power lines. Electric load shedding is very common feature for the residents of Pakistan's biggest town and its commercial capital Karachi. At this time of year, the repeated outages make the short days seem even bleaker. The city residents are left powerless with the Karachi Electric Supply Company cutting off power unannounced.

The situation is no better in other cities in Sindh and Punjab. And in some cities, power cuts of up to eight or ten hours are being reported.

Frequent power outages and fluctuations over the past week have left Karachiites badmouthing the Karachi Electricity Supply Company.

On Thursday the total shortfall oscillated between 400 and 500 MW due to a lack of sufficient generation by Bin Qasim and KTPS.

The erratic power supply notwithstanding, subscribers are being asked to shell out more money through bills at revised rates. More than eight hours of load-shedding has crippled business in the metropolis.

Mahmood Hamid of the All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders and Industries urged the government to act soon to improve the power supply.

Whereas the power outage in the city was crippling the economy, it was also going against the government because of its decision to hand over the management to Abraj Group, which is reluctant to bear the cost of augmenting the network.

On the contrary, it is exerting pressure on the government to get more concessions. Mahmood Hamid alleged that the new KESC management had the patronage of some very influential persons in the government and that was why it did not bother about public outrage.

Recently Sindh Governor Ishratul Ebad Khan had directed the KESC management to take urgent steps for ensuring uninterrupted power supply.

The management team, led by the utility’s Chief Executive Naveed Ismail, had assured him of corrective measures, but the situation has worsened instead.