Pakistan is expected to announce a series of drastic power-saving measures this week, including a shorter working week and restrictions on wedding celebrations at night, as a severe energy shortfall threatens to set off riots. The blackouts have plagued cities and the countryside for up to 20 hours a day in some places, bringing industry and even farming to a halt.
There have already been street protests over the stoppages this year, which have resulted in at least one death.
While Islamic extremism in Pakistan grabs the international headlines, it is everyday issues such as the electricity crisis and spiralling inflation that most concern the population of this key western ally, according to opinion polls.
The energy-saving measures are likely to include turning the country's one-day weekend into two days, pushing the clocks forward by an hour, and closing industry for a day during the working week. There will also be cutbacks in street lighting, so that only every second or third light is switched on, markets will be forced to close soon after sunset, and wedding receptions huge, ostentatious events in Pakistani culture required to end by 9pm or 10pm.
Individual provinces will impose their own additional restrictions. In Punjab province, where over half the country's population lives, there will be a ban on electric billboards, neon signs, decorative lights and fountains, and government offices will not be permitted to turn on their air conditioning before 11am.
"Measures such as the early closing of markets have proved notoriously difficult to enforce in the past, and this time may prove no different," said an editorial published today in Dawn, a Pakistani daily. "It may be too little too late, but at the moment the country can use all the help it can get."
Pakistan has been crippled by a shortfall in electricity generation; it is producing only about 10,000MW of the required 16,000MW. Even some of the existing power stations are not able to work at full capacity because they are owed money by the government.
The electricity package is expected to involve an injection of some £600m to address the issue of "circular" government debt. There is also the problem of a culture of consumers rigging up wires to steal electricity from overhead cables, meaning that much of the usage is not billed for. As a result, industries such as the textile sector have had to shorten working shifts and lay off workers, and farmers cannot use their electrical tube wells to water their fields. Some businesses, such as tailoring and printing, now tell customers that it will take weeks to get their jobs done.
As well as suffering from electricity stoppages, consumers have been hit by a steep rise in the price of electricity since the authorities withdrew subsidies to meet the terms of IMF loans. This has caused further resentment.
"Children can't do their homework. Housework doesn't get done, as washing machines and other appliances cannot work. When you go home from work, you have no idea whether there will be electricity at home. Your whole life is disturbed," said Mahnaz Peracha, of the Network for Consumer Protection, a Pakistani campaigning group.
The issue is proving to be a major source of anger against the government, which is accused of failing to tackling the electricity crisis in the two years it has been in power. The one scheme it has put into motion, for the creation of temporary power plants, has been plagued by allegations of corruption. The government, led by President Asif Zardari, says that its predecessor, the military regime of Pervez Musharraf, is at fault, as it failed to add any generation capacity and allowed inter-governmental debt to pile up.
Pakistan to impose wedding curfew as power shortages cause civil unrest | World news | The Guardian
There have already been street protests over the stoppages this year, which have resulted in at least one death.
While Islamic extremism in Pakistan grabs the international headlines, it is everyday issues such as the electricity crisis and spiralling inflation that most concern the population of this key western ally, according to opinion polls.
The energy-saving measures are likely to include turning the country's one-day weekend into two days, pushing the clocks forward by an hour, and closing industry for a day during the working week. There will also be cutbacks in street lighting, so that only every second or third light is switched on, markets will be forced to close soon after sunset, and wedding receptions huge, ostentatious events in Pakistani culture required to end by 9pm or 10pm.
Individual provinces will impose their own additional restrictions. In Punjab province, where over half the country's population lives, there will be a ban on electric billboards, neon signs, decorative lights and fountains, and government offices will not be permitted to turn on their air conditioning before 11am.
"Measures such as the early closing of markets have proved notoriously difficult to enforce in the past, and this time may prove no different," said an editorial published today in Dawn, a Pakistani daily. "It may be too little too late, but at the moment the country can use all the help it can get."
Pakistan has been crippled by a shortfall in electricity generation; it is producing only about 10,000MW of the required 16,000MW. Even some of the existing power stations are not able to work at full capacity because they are owed money by the government.
The electricity package is expected to involve an injection of some £600m to address the issue of "circular" government debt. There is also the problem of a culture of consumers rigging up wires to steal electricity from overhead cables, meaning that much of the usage is not billed for. As a result, industries such as the textile sector have had to shorten working shifts and lay off workers, and farmers cannot use their electrical tube wells to water their fields. Some businesses, such as tailoring and printing, now tell customers that it will take weeks to get their jobs done.
As well as suffering from electricity stoppages, consumers have been hit by a steep rise in the price of electricity since the authorities withdrew subsidies to meet the terms of IMF loans. This has caused further resentment.
"Children can't do their homework. Housework doesn't get done, as washing machines and other appliances cannot work. When you go home from work, you have no idea whether there will be electricity at home. Your whole life is disturbed," said Mahnaz Peracha, of the Network for Consumer Protection, a Pakistani campaigning group.
The issue is proving to be a major source of anger against the government, which is accused of failing to tackling the electricity crisis in the two years it has been in power. The one scheme it has put into motion, for the creation of temporary power plants, has been plagued by allegations of corruption. The government, led by President Asif Zardari, says that its predecessor, the military regime of Pervez Musharraf, is at fault, as it failed to add any generation capacity and allowed inter-governmental debt to pile up.
Pakistan to impose wedding curfew as power shortages cause civil unrest | World news | The Guardian
