Power woes: ‘Coal-powered plants best short-term solution to energy crisis’

MULTAN: “Investment in coal powered plants is the best short-term solution for the energy crisis in the country. Political parties should not use the government’s energy policy for petty point-scoring,” State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali said on Saturday.

Talking to The Express Tribune, he said there would be no load shedding during sehr, iftar and taraweeh timings during Ramazan.

“We have chalked out a plan for load shedding under which there will be a six-hour outage in urban areas and eight-hour load shedding in rural areas. Domestic consumers are the top priority during Ramazan,” he said.

He said at least 3600 megawatts would be added to the grid when coal powered plants became operational.

Earlier, talking to newsmen at Multan Electric Power Company Headquarters late on Friday night, the state minister said overloaded transformers would be replaced by MEPCO before Ramazan.

He said MEPCO workers had been cautioned against neglecting public complaints. He said the MEPCO had been directed to pay special attention to areas where poor voltage had been reported.

The state minister said he would monitor electricity supply during Ramazan. “Action would be taken against officials where low voltage complaints are not being addressed,” he said.

He said the government would rid the country of load shedding by 2018.

He said investment through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would transform economic prospects of the country.

He said a special relief package would be announced for farmers, salaried citizens and the working classes in the upcoming budget.

“The budget will also bring good news for industrialists,” he said.

MEPCO Chief Executive Engineer Fazalullah Durani briefed the minister on the centre set up to address public complaints during summer. “MEPCO staff will be on call in three shifts and will be always accessible.”

He told the minister that designated industrial areas were being supplied electricity without interruption.

He said the MEPCO had replaced 2,471 transformers and supplied 372 new transformers.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2016.