PPP Sindh General Secretary Taj Haider said the rights of the provinces should be granted to them in accordance with the constitution.
Hider was addressing a press conference at the press club here on Wednesday. He said instead of spending money on fancy projects, it should be utilised for development of energy sector.
Taj Haider said it was Punjab which was consuming large amount of electricity (as well as natural gas) from projects located in other provinces and not vice versa.
He noted that out of the national pool of generated electricity, Karachi, with its population of over 20 million, was buying a mere 600 MW which was also disturbed very often. It is supplying electricity to the locations which are 60 km away in Sindh and 100 km away in Balochistan, he added.
The PPP leader said Karachi met its balance requirements from electricity generated by the private sector company, KESC.
He said the KESC during the last four years had also put up two very high efficiency (60 per cent plus compared to average 20 per cent of WAPDA) plants in Karachi and these are 220 MW Korangi combined cycle and 560 MW Bin Qasim. Unfortunately in gross violation of the constitutional provisions, no gas was being provided to these high efficiency power plants, he added.
Taj Haider said the KESC was also converting its 850 MW existing furnace oil plants to coal, thus bringing down generation costs and the oil import bill. He noted that Article 157 (2)(c) of the constitution empowers the provincial government to construct power houses and grid stations. Under this article of the constitution, the government of Sindh had contributed 51 per cent equity in the 2,400 MW Sindh Engro Power and mining project based on Thar Coal, he added.
Provinces should be given justified rights: Taj Haider
