The 12 to 14-hour a day load-shedding schedule has meant cyber and communication businesses face their hardest times ever.
POWER CRISIS IMPACT
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“We are passing through the most difficult time due to power outage,” complained Buddha Tandukar, president of the Nepal Cyber and Communication Association (NCCA). “It is difficult even to sustain our businesses.” [break]
As many as 6,000 cyber and communication businesses are operating in the Kathmandu Valley alone. Of them, some 3,000 provide cyber service only, while the remainder provide both cyber and communication services.
“Those running both cyber and communication can somehow run their business for next few months,” Tandukar said, adding, “But others are likely to pull down their shutters soon.”
According to the NCCA, shutdown of cyber and communication businesses would cost at least 15,000 job opportunities in the Valley alone.
Gobinda Ghimire, owner of Brothers Cyber and Communication, Anamnagar, complained erratic load-shedding hours makes it difficult for them to even recharge their inverters to keep the business going. Uninterrupted power supply is necessary to recharge the inverters.
Most cyber and communication businesses are run with as little investment as Rs 200,000, and owners can barely afford to buy generators able to supply power throughout load-shedding hours. Even if they could, this is still not a financially viable option.
Tandukar claims day-time load-shedding has cut their income by over 70 percent in recent days. “We have to shut down our businesses most of the time, but continue paying rent and allowances to our staff,” he added. “Most of us are in the dilemma whether to shut down the business altogether.”
The Kathmandu Valley has witnessed a surge in cyber and communication businesses over the last five years, thanks largely to students aspiring to study abroad, and kin of those requiring the cheapest means of communication. The surge is also caused partly due to educated, but unemployed, youths looking for decent jobs to maintain status in other’s eyes
It is not only cyber and communication businesses which are being hit hard, though. Other small businesses, such as garage and grill industries, are facing equally hard times as alternative sources of power like inverters and generators do not work for them.
“We are left with no choice but to wait for load-shedding free days ahead,” says Laxman Rai, owner of Rai Motorcycle Repairing Center, Anamnagar. “But I am not sure, when do those days finally come to us?”
koshraj@myrepublica.com
