ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday expressed displeasure over load shedding in the country and said responsibility must be fixed for inadequate planning in power management.
“Anticipated planning has not been exercised by relevant ministries and their organisations, for which responsibility must be fixed,” the prime minister said while chairing the fourth consecutive meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy during the current month here at PM House.
The prime minister said it was the responsibility of the government to provide relief to the masses. He directed the secretary water and power to constitute a dedicated team for hourly monitoring of the power supply situation and also sought the monitoring report of power transmission and distribution system on weekly basis.
He directed secretary water and power, secretary finance and secretary to PM to present a line of action for resolution of issues related to non-operational independent power producers (IPPs) and present a report in two days.
He directed the ministry of petroleum and the ministry of water and power to work out a balanced conversion plan of power generation plants from furnace oil to re-gasified liquid natural gas (RLNG) and coal and present the plan in next meeting of the cabinet committee on energy.
The water and power secretary briefed the meeting on availability and utilisation of idle IPPs and captive power plants. He also briefed on issues pertaining to upfront tariff by NEPRA and load management plan for the summer. He informed the meeting that power generation amounting to 866 MW had been restored to the system in April and further 400 MW would be added by mid of May 2017.
Water and power minister informed the meeting that power system constraints resolution programme would be completed by December 2017.
The minister for finance briefed the meeting on his meeting with World Bank regarding president funding of solar power projects in Pakistan.
It is pertinent to mention here that the government on April 18 had admitted in the Senate that the current power shortfall had reached up to 6000 MW and forced load shedding was going on because of this deficit in the demand and supply of the electricity.
State Minister of Water and Power Abid Sher Ali had made this admission before the Upper House while replying to a question about the government’s plans to manage power outages in the upcoming month of Ramazan.
The electricity shortfall of up to 6000 MW has resulted in six to 18 hours of load shedding in the urban and rural areas of the country at a time when temperature has risen up to 47 degrees celsius.
According to government’s claims, the electricity demand has reached close to 19,000 MW while supply is up to 13,000 MW while the gap was being filled through scheduled and unscheduled load shedding.
However, the state minister hoped that the deficit would decrease in the first week of May as 2500 MW electricity would be added to the national grid.
He said that issues arising out in Nandipur Power Plant, Chasma Nuclear Power Plant and under-construction Bikki Power Plant were being resolved to add more power to the system. Nandipur power plant is being transferred on to gas, he added.
The state minister had also informed the Upper House that load shedding would be managed during the month of Ramazan as per policy to be notified by the Ministry of Water and Power before the commencement of the holy month.
Last year, no load shedding was carried during the Sehar and Iftar timings and the ministry will take all possible steps to provide maximum relief to consumers this year as well, he added.
