State Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali on Thursday informed the senate standing committee on water and power that circular debt had again reached Rs 250 billion.
Out of total circular debt, Rs129 billion owed to the federal and provincial governments, the minister told the committee which met here with Senator Nisar Muhammad.
He said regular payment was being made to independent power producers (IPPs) to mitigate suffering of the masses. He said the government was also giving priority to upgrade the transmission line along with power generation.
The minister said under capacity building plan, the capacity of Guddu, Jamshoro and Muzaffargarh power plants had been enhanced. Abid said 60 per cent power distribution system overloaded for which feeders were being bifurcated.
He said DG Khan-Loralai 500 KV Grid Station had already been energized while 500 KV Khuzdar grid station would be fully operationalised within one month.
The minister said 13 power transformers of 250 MW were being imported from Iran to control frequent tripping and ease load on various feeders of the Multan Electric Supply Company (MEPCO).
The Pakistan Electric Supply Company managing director apprised the committee that Rs 250 billion was required to upgrade the whole system.
The water and power ministry’s joint secretary told the committee that total hydel generation capacity stood at 6,800 MW and currently the total average generation was recorded as 14,000MW-15,000 MW.
The Lahore Electric Supply Company official informed the committee that 4-5 hour load shedding was being carried out in city areas of Lahore, adding that additional two hours load-management was observed in more line losses areas.
