KATHMANDU: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has demanded for immediate solution to the problem of power supply, citing that heavy load shedding in the industrial sector had pushed the industries in crisis in recent days.
Hundreds of industries along the country’s major industrial corridors have been affected by heavy load shedding of 12 to 16 hours daily load shedding without any prior notice.
According to a press statement of FNCCI, the private sector is worried about the huge economic losses in the industries, adversely affecting the productivity and crisis in the economy of the country.
The FNCCI has received request from hundreds of industries urging it to help solve the problem immediately.
According to the FNCCI, the industry will not be able to operate as per the regular schedule due to extended power cuts, tripping, low voltage and other problems and machines worth millions of rupees will be damaged due to power cuts.
The FNCCI has drawn attention of the government and the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to the serious problems, including supply chain, wastage of raw materials, payment of principal and interest to bank and workers as well due to non-operation of the industry.
Reminding NEA of its repeated commitment in the past to prevent power crunch and load shedding in the industrial sector by purchasing electricity at any cost, it expressed its concern that this will seriously push the country’s journey towards industrialisation.
In the current situation where production costs are constantly rising, the problem of severe load shedding again will seriously affect the country’s exports and will widen the country’s balance of payments deficit as a whole, FNCCI said.
“If there is no regular supply of electricity, the projection of economic growth will be affected, the competitiveness of industries will be sapped and the overall export will be affected,” said FNCCI.