By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : Pakistan may once again resort to a five-day working week because of an increasing energy shortage, an official at the prime minister’s secretariat said Monday.
“Discussions have begun to cut one working day and start a five-day week mainly because of the energy crisis,” the official told IANS.
After trying out various measures to overcome the crisis, caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro directed the government to hold consultations with the provinces and trade and industry bodies for introducing a five-day working week.
Presiding over a meeting last week to discuss proposals of the Energy Conservation Agency (Enercon) to minimise electricity wastage, the premier stressed that a decision about adopting a five-day week would be taken after consulting all stakeholders.
Official estimates show that a five-day week would save 828 MW of electricity, which could be used in industry and agriculture. The measure has been tested twice earlier, but on both occasions the government had to revert to a six-day week.
Other proposals made by Enercon include phased replacement of inefficient thermal power plants, large-scale use of energy saving bulbs, energy efficient water heaters and stove burners.
The prime minister also directed that all future building designs be based on energy efficient codes so as to use maximum sunlight for heating and lighting.
The official said that all those who participated at the meeting had agreed that a five-day week would be an efficient way to save energy.
In Pakistan, Friday is usually half-day because of weekly prayers that start around 1.00 p.m. And there are many who feel that adopting a five-day week may not really help.
“If we start a five-day week, people will take Friday off and this would affect work,” another government official said. He added that Pakistan had tested this twice in 1989 and in 1996 and had failed on both the occasions.