- PM says anticipated planning has not been exercised by relevant ministries, organisations
Perturbed by the continued long hours of electricity load shedding schedule, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday stated that anticipated planning has not been exercised by the relevant ministries and their organisations for which responsibility must be fixed.
The premier expressed displeasure over the duration of current electricity load shedding schedule while chairing the 4th consecutive meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) in the month of April, held here at PM House on Friday.
The prime minister expressed displeasure over the duration of current load shedding schedule and stated that it is the responsibility of the government to provide relief to the masses. “Anticipated planning has not been exercised by the relevant ministries and their organisations for which responsibility must be fixed,” added the prime minister.
The premier has directed Water and Power secretary to constitute a dedicated team for hourly monitoring of the power supply situation. He further directed that the team must report on the monitoring of power transmission and distribution system on a weekly basis.
The prime minister also directed Water and Power secretary, Finance secretary, and Secretary to PM to present a line of action for resolution of issues related to in-operational IPPs and present a report within two days.
Similarly, the PM directed Ministry of Petroleum and Ministry of Water and Power to work out a balanced conversion plan of power generation plants from furnace oil to re-gasified liquid natural gas (RLNG) and coal as source and present the plan in next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy. This will help the government to further reduce the cost of electricity for all sectors, said statement issued by PM House.
During the course of this meeting of CCoE, Water and Power secretary briefed the meeting on availability and utilisation of idle IPPs and captive power plants. He also briefed on issues pertaining to upfront tariff by NEPRA and load management plan for the summer. He informed the meeting that power generation amounting to 866MW has been restored to the system in the month of April and further 400MW would be added by mid of May 2017. Water and Power minister informed the meeting that power system constraints resolution programme would be completed by December 2017. Finance minister briefed the meeting on his meeting with World Bank president regarding funding of solar power projects in Pakistan.
The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Petroleum & Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Water & Power Minister Khawaja Asif, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Special Assistant to PM Tariq Fatemi and senior officials.
It is pertinent to mention here that duration of load shedding has increased with the start of summer. Though incumbent regime has been making tall claims to end power load shedding by 2018, however, there has been no let up in sight to reduce the miseries of the public, facing power outages for a long time. Moreover, the government anxiety over power outages is obvious as less than one year time has left to next general election 2018 in the country; understandably, to win public sympathies, the incumbent government has to take revolutionary measures to reduce the duration of load shedding in the country.
