President, PM ponder over power crisis

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Monday gave principle approval to the plan of introducing bulk metering of electricity and gas “in order to improve the recovery” against gas and power used by the consumers.
A high-level meeting held at the Presidency with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the chair reviewed the current situation with regards to the power issue in the country and decided to direct NEPRA and OGRA to put in place the system of bulk metering of electricity and gas. The president emphasized on the need for enhanced coordination between various departments to reduce the electricity shortfall and to overcome the unscheduled load shedding that was causing great inconvenience to the people.
“We cannot afford to lower our guards in meeting the energy challenge. The issue needs to be resolved at the earliest in order to save people from the inconvenience of power shortage,” Senator Farhatullah Babar quoted the president as saying. The president also directed the ministers concerned to meet him regularly and to keep him informed about the latest situation. The president said he would continue to hold such meetings until the issue was resolved on a permanent basis.
Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain, Secretary to the President Malik Asif Hayat, spokesperson to the president Farhatullah Babar and Finance Secretary Wajid Rana were present in the meeting. Briefing about the meeting, Senator Farhatullah Babar said Syed Naveed Qamar briefed the meeting on the daily generation situation since the last meeting with the president held on May 10.
He also gave a briefing on various steps that had being taken to eliminate unscheduled load shedding. Dr Asim Hussain, the minister for petroleum & natural resources, briefed the meeting about the availability of furnace oil and gas to the power plants and the problems being encountered. The president directed the petroleum and the finance ministers to address the issues and report to him in the next meeting. Hafeez Sheikh also gave a briefing on the issue of circular debt.