US Mission to Pakistan’s Coordinator of Economic and Development Assistance Loan Waskin said on Wednesday that energy sector is US government’s highest priority in Pakistan.
Talking on the successful completion of US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s power distribution program, the US mission coordinator said that USAID added 1,500 megawatts (MWs) to the country’s grid during the last five years.
Waskin said that $218 million project is a part of the US government’s commitment to support the government of Pakistan and to ensure stable energy supply and a ‘prosperous’ future for the county. He added that the program introduced a number of modern technologies to upgrade Pakistan’s electric power distribution network, which the agency has helped increase its annual company revenue by more than $ 400 million, saving over 200 MWs of energy – enough to supply power to about three million people.
Waskin said that in the last five years, the program has trained more than 32,000 energy sector specialists, installed state-of-the art systems to monitor and control power flow, improved consumer billing systems, and has introduced international best practices in the system.
He added that the program also installed nearly 90,000 capacitors on agricultural pumps to reduce electrical losses, replaced 260,000 meters and distribution system wires, and provided a variety of other equipment to upgrade the distribution system.
