Pakistan’s Water and Power Federal Minister Khawaja Asif said on Friday that load shedding in the country would not end by 2018.
Asif said Pakistan was incurring Rs1,000 billion in annual loss from power generation. He continued saying government institutions in Sindh are defaulters of Rs53 billion, Azad Kashmir Rs5 billion, Punjab Rs4 billion and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rs1 billion.
The water and power minister said it was expected that Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would clear their electricity defaults by June. The federal minister, however, expressed reservations over Sindh and Azad Kashmir clearing their defaults.
Khawaja Asif added that the federal government had directed provinces to appoint a time for the early closure of markets.