The protests against the electricity load-shedding have been going on across the country, including Punjab, for the last few days and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah has also talked about the issue with Minister of Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif on telephone and reminded him of his promise of less load-shedding in Sindh province.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also attended the meeting because his province is equally affected by load-shedding, said a participant of the meeting. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed displeasure over the load-shedding schedule, currently being followed, and directed that minimum load-shedding be carried out during Ramazan. He stated that a proactive and solution-oriented approach should be adopted by all line departments with the aim to providing maximum relief in summer season.
The Prime Minister stated the government is fully cognisant of the problems faced by masses due to power shortage and will not take rest till a significant relief is provided to the people. Keeping in view the urgency of the situation, the Prime Minister has called another meeting of the CCOE today (Tuesday). The secretary water & power briefed the meeting about the implementation status of previous decisions taken by the CCOE, current load management plan, circular debt, transmission and distribution of power from upcoming power projects and status of utilisation of idle power plants.
Bhikki and Haveli Bhadur Shah power plants are facing normal mechanical problems in some of their turbines and the problems are being resolved by the manufacturers, the meeting was informed. The meeting directed to complete repairs at the earliest.
The meeting was also told that a special committee in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources is working to chalk out a balanced conversion plan from conventional fuels to LNG. The monitoring of power generation and distribution systems is being undertaken regularly with physical and field monitoring of 270 projects and regular meetings are being held with CEOs of Discos to resolve operational issues, the water and power officials added.
Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi briefed the committee about the new gas transmission pipelines which are being laid for LNG from Karachi to Lahore. The Cabinet Committee on Energy was told that by March 2018, a total of additional 9,107MW power carrying capacity would be available in the transmission system provided that timelines are met.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif as well as other senior officials.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017