LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday said that the claims made by Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in connection with resolving energy crisis in the country were ‘not verifiable’.
PTI Information Secretary Fawad Chaudhry said, “The prime minister would not have made these assertions if he had closely studied the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority’s (NEPRA) data.”
While inaugurating the first-ever CCV cable and aluminium alloy plant at Lahore’s Sundar Industrial Area, PM Abbasi had said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had managed to add 10,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid, adding that the incumbent government had started projects that would meet all future energy needs of Pakistan.
In response, Fawad said that debt circulation could only touch Rs 1,000 billion, despite the country paying Rs 100,000 billion, adding that the weak performance of the government could not be concealed with wrong information.
He also said, “The PML-N government could only manage to install power plants that generate 5,575 megawatts of electricity.” He said these plants were not working to their full potential, adding that the PML-N government only added 1,670 megawatts of electricity to the national grid.
Fawad further said that PM Abbasi’s claims were also wrong because Pakistan was among the low energy producing countries in South Asia.
“One can safely say that in the last five years, the PML-N government has failed to take concrete steps to resolve the energy crisis in the country,” he added.
In conclusion, the PTI information secretary said that distorting facts could not cover the shortcomings and under-performance of the ruling party in terms of governance.
