Govt turning the tide against power outages, says PM Nawaz

Says huge investments made in energy sector

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is on course to making giant strides in its battle against load-shedding by adding significant power to the national grid through a string of power projects, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday.

“Never in the country’s history has such huge investment been made in the energy sector. The government is not only working to meet the power shortfall but is also catering for the future energy needs of Pakistan,” PM Nawaz said on Tuesday, while chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy.



The premier said increased power generation will also contribute towards economic growth, employment generation, increased industrial activity and foreign investment.

“I will personally monitor the progress on the ongoing power projects across the country and will also perform onsite visits of all power projects to ensure their timely completion,” he said, according to a press release issued by the PM House.

Earlier, Water and Power Secretary Younus Dagha gave a detailed briefing on the timeline for completion of the ongoing power projects in Pakistan. The premier was briefed that the power projects will be completed before March 2018.

The projects that will be completed between the given timeline include three LNG power plants – Bhikki, Haveli-Bahadur, Baloki - of 3,600MW, Chashma 3 & 4 Nuclear of 340MW each, Guddu Gas  of plus 400MW, Nandipur Gas of plus 100MW and Sahiwal Coal of 1,320MW.

The projects slated to complete by March 2018 also include various wind and bagasse plants of 350MW, Patrind HPP Hydel of 147MW, Faisalabad Gas of 250MW, Neelum Jhelum of 969MW, Tarbella 4 Extension of 1,410MW and Port Qasim Power Plant of 1,320MW.

The meeting was assured that a total of 11,131MW will be made available to the national grid by the March of 2018. The participants were told that all transmission line projects are on track to evacuate ongoing power projects, and billions of rupees have been invested in the existing distribution network to bear the load of additionally generated power through completion of ongoing power projects.



The meeting was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan, Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif and other senior officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2016.