Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired the 7th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy on Friday, which reviewed progress on the implementation of decisions taken in previous six meetings. The Prime Minister said the government is making all-out efforts to eliminate loadshedding during its tenure in office and said priority is to increase generation in the short-term to add additional electricity to the national grid by the summer this year.

He directed that efficient projects should be undertaken so that provision of electricity to people at affordable rates can be ensured. Alternate sources of energy including solar and wind power, must also be tapped to reduce dependence on any one source, and all impediments in the way of speedy generation of electricity be removed, he said.

The Prime Minister was informed that Expressions of Interest have been invited for the construction of 1100-km South-North gas pipeline to be completed in two phases which would reduce cost of transmission of gas leading to a decreased cost of power production. He directed that time lines should be set for the project to achieve the objectives within a specified timeframe.

The meeting decided that to meet severe energy crisis, LNG-fuelled power plants would be installed. The Prime Minister emphasised that electricity transmission system should be improved to reduce line losses. Ministers for Finance, Ishaq Dar; Water and Power, Khawaja Muhammad Asif; Petroleum, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi; Planning, Ahsan Iqbal; Railways, Khawaja Saad Rafique; Chief Minister Punjab, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif; Minister of State for Petroleum, Jam Kamal; Minister of State for Water and Power, Abid Sher Ali; Advisor to PM on National Security, Sartaj Aziz and SAPM on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi attended the meeting along with senior government officials.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2015