‘8000MW electricity to be added to the national grid by next year’

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A man walks past electricity pylons as he returns from work in Soweto, outside Johannesburg May 15, 2012. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Thursday that several power plants will start generating electricity next year, adding 8,000MW to the national grid.

Speaking to a private news channel, Asif claimed that 8,000MW electricity will be added into the current system which will help address the energy issue.

He added that uninterrupted power supply had been ensured to the industrial sector during the past two years.

While addressing a news conference earlier this week, Asif had said hydel power generation was expected to increase to 3,000-3,500MW from the current level of 2,000 MW by April 20.

“Load-shedding will be reduced to three hours in urban and four hours in rural areas before the end of this month,” he said.

Dismissing the assertion that Independent Power Producers (IPPs) were not generating enough power, he said that at present, they were generating 8,000MW of electricity and IPPs would get Rs92 billion on account of electricity supply.