Dysfunctional power sector wrecking country's economy: Mian Zahid.

Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on September 8 that the sluggish power sector is ruining the country's economy.

Local and foreign investment is difficult without bringing transparency to the power sector and introducing reforms in it so that it can become self-sufficient, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that taxes worth Rs734 billion will be collected on electricity bills in the current year, but it will not help the power sector unless strict measures are taken to eliminate electricity theft, line losses, and non-payment of bills.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the power sector has become very incompetent and a burden. Due to the high cost of electricity, its use is decreasing while theft is increasing, and there is a need to stop theft of electricity, collect electricity bills, save electricity by closing the markets early, and revise the agreements made with private power plants.

He said that closing the markets in the evening will save a huge amount of electricity, which will also save foreign exchange, which is in short supply in the country.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the total amount of theft and non-payment of bills in the country this year is estimated to reach almost two trillion rupees, which is enough to bankrupt the people and the economy.

He...