(August-07-2024)
The Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board and National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, as well as former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Wednesday that national airlines, railways, and provincial transport companies are in a loss in a country with a population of 240 million which is unbelievable.
Among the failed state-owned companies in the country, not one notable company’s downfall is due to its employees, as the masses are made to believe, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the destruction of state-run companies’ results from policies aimed at grabbing their assets and land, rewarding business people who fund political parties, and looting under the guise of foreign investment.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the purpose of the companies that have employed more than required employees or neglected the eligibility criteria was also to get political benefits from these companies while increasing their financial burden.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that PIA was older and more famous than many good airlines and had profitable routes. This company has also become a burden on the national exchequer due to over-staffing, incompetence, corruption, and nepotism, and now it is time to privatize it.
Presently, there is no alternative to the sale of these companies as they have been damaged beyond repair, he underlined.
The business leader said that the story of Steel Mills is not different as many influential people are ready to plunder its resources.
He said that from the beginning, such a system of checks and balances was not allowed to be created in Pakistan, which could prevent politicians and other influential circles from colluding and bargaining for national interests.
That is why the government should focus on making policies instead of doing business because doing business is not the business of the government, he observed.
The government officials dealing with IPPs were incompetent in business affairs; they misused power and made the country vulnerable to losses.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that in the current situation, IPPs are the most obvious example, which has not been adequately monitored, and the cost of electricity has been increased because of capacity charges so much that it is beyond the reach of the commoner and the industry.
Traders are also in trouble because Pakistan has become the most expensive electricity-generating country in the region and in the world, which ruined the country’s economy and squeezed the last drop of blood from the veins of the poor people.
If the loans of IPPs were considered national debt and their interest was distributed to the country’s total population, it would have been a burden of a few hundred rupees per person per month. Still, due to ignorance of business matters, the government officials used the same interest as the total amount of electricity.
Now, capacity charges have jumped to Rs 20 per unit, making it impossible for people to pay their electricity bills, and Pakistan’s trade, industry, employment, and exports have all been affected.
The economy is at stake; therefore, the FPCCI has to raise this matter in the Supreme Court.
He said that the people expect relief from the same elements who have imposed this punishment on the nation, which is surprising.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that due to the policymakers’ wrong priorities, the importance of energy security has increased more than food security and water security.
If encouraging statements are issued instead of normalizing the situation, the peace and integrity of the country may be at stake, he warned.
