Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Thursday said that load shedding in summers should not be more than six hours in cities and eight hours in the rural areas.
He emphasized that measures should be taken for conservation of electricity in the country. The prime minister was chairing the 11th meeting of the cabinet committee on energy at the PM House.
The committee was briefed about the progress made so far on two power plants of 660 MW each in Jamshoro. It was further informed that financial arrangements had been made and the project would be undertaken after international competitive bidding.
The prime minister directed that time-lines of the project should be fast tracked so that 1320 MW electricity is added to the national grid as soon as possible. He asked for forming a project implementation unit for executing the work in the shortest possible time and try to complete the project by the beginning of 2018. The committee decided to review the modalities of cost recovery like joint venture and equity participation with railway freight corporation.
The committee also reviewed progress on 3600 MW LNG based power plants, which was presented by Secretary Water and Power Younus Dhaga. The project would be financed through PSDP. The petroleum ministry updated the prime minister on the progress made on this project since last meeting of the committee.
The prime minister directed that the project be completed by February 2017. The committee was informed that by summer more than 1500 MW electricity would be available in the system as compared to same time last year. This includes 750 MW through Guddu, 425 MW through Nandipur, 150 MW through wind power and 100 MW through solar energy.
The prime minister emphasized that measures should be taken for the conservation of electricity in the country. WAPDA Chairman Zafar Mahmood briefed the meeting on matters relating to Diamir-Bhasha and Neelam-Jhelum dams.
Other participants of the meeting included Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Federal Minister for Finance; Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab CM; Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Petroleum; Khawaja Saad Rafique, Minister for Railways; Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Water & Power; Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to PM on National Security; Jam Kamal Khan, MOS for Petroleum; Abid Sher Ali, Tariq Fatemi, Dr Musadik Malik, SAPM; Secretary Finance Waqar Masood; Secretary Petroleum Arshad Mirza and Secretary Information Mohammad Azam along with other senior officials.
