"I don't agree with the figures of load-shedding presented by the ministry. In urban areas of Punjab 10-12 hours load-shedding is actually being carried out including Lahore," he said, at a meeting of the CCoE held on April 24, 2017. Secretary Water and Power briefed the committee on the load management position of the Discos, claiming that load-shedding was for six hours in the urban areas, 8-12 hours in the rural areas and four hours in mixed industrial areas and there was no load-shedding for independent industrial load areas.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif observed that the ministry had clearly committed that three hours load-shedding for urban areas and four hours for rural areas would be observed in the country during summer 2017; and this plan has not been followed at all. In fact, the duration of load-shedding being reported is more than double the approved plan. No cogent reasons are being forwarded by the ministry for this lapse.
The premier enquired about the reasons for deviation from earlier commitment and observed that rise in temperature by 2 to 3 Celsius should not have been resulted in such a big increase in load-shedding. Moreover, less availability of water during these months was never highlighted in earlier presentations.
Punjab CM stated that imported coal-based Rahim Yar Khan power plant was a very important project. It was included in the list of CPEC programme. However, the project was abandoned citing transportation issues. He informed the meeting that he had discussed the matter with Railways minister, who stated that the requisite railway infrastructure can be made available before the completion of the power plant. Secretary to the PM stated that the decision not to support imported coal-fired plants was taken holistically, taking into account double impact of such projects on foreign exchange outflows in the shape of import bills as well as expatriation of profits. Punjab CM requested the forum to immediately restore this project in the CPEC list.
Prime Minister directed Ministry of Water and Power to evaluate the proposal on inclusion of Rahim Yar Khan Power Plant in the CPEC priority list and possibility of its conversion to LNG/RLNG. He further stated that there was a huge gap between demand and supply of power. The ongoing power projects in the country would take some time for their COD; therefore, there was a dire need to take emergency steps in this regard. He proposed to utilize all available options like establishment of mobile power plants, restoration of idle power projects and encouraging the industrial sector to optimise the capacity of their available captive power plants to mitigate power shortages in the country. He stated that option of mobile power plant should be explored only for one year as the current shortfall in power generation would be considerably reduced by the end of 2017 after completion of ongoing power projects.
The PM directed the Ministry of Water and Power to explore the options for induction of mobile power plants on short-term basis and utilization of captive power plants to reduce shortfall of power in the country. The CM suggested that generation of power through solar system should also be examined as such projects can be made operational in 6-8 months.
Secretary to the PM stated that the Chinese authorities had raised their concerns in the meeting of Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), over the non-issuance of Letter of Intent (LOI) by the Pakistani side for the establishment of 300MW power plant at Gwadar. It was agreed in the JCC meeting that the requisite LOI for the power plant would be issued by the Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) after completion of necessary legal formalities. However, this has not yet been issued.
He further stated that power plant and transmission line for evacuation of electricity from the plant should be completed by the end of December, 2019 to reap real economic benefits of the plant, however, conditional letter by NTDC has indicated December, 2020 as the date of commissioning of transmission line. NTDC managing director stated that 700-KM-long transmission line was required to be built in difficult terrain where security issues also existed and, at least, four-year period was required to build the transmission line. The premier agreed with the statement of Secretary to the PM and stated that both power plants and transmission lines should have been completed, simultaneously, to generate economic activity in the backward area of Balochistan; he also directed NTDC MD to complete requisite transmission lines for the proposed plant at Gwadar within the shortest possible time.
After detailed discussion, the committee took the following decisions: (i) Ministry of Water and Power would evaluate proposal regarding re-inclusion of Rahim Yar Khan coal-fired power plant in the CPEC list and possibility of its conversion to LNG/RLNG; (ii) Ministry of Water and Power would evaluate proposal regarding induction of mobile power generating units on short-term basis for meeting power shortfall in summer of 2017; (iii) Ministry of Water and Power would study options on utilization of idle capacity of IPPs and captive power plants to bridge the demand supply gap in summer of 2017 on an emergent basis; and (iv)NTDC managing director would complete the requisite transmission lines for the proposed plant at Gwadar within the shortest possible time.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017