PM bristles at longer electricity cuts

Says responsibility must be fixed for mismanagement

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed displeasure over the duration of load-shedding schedule and said it was the responsibility of the government to provide relief to the masses.

“Anticipated planning has not been exercised by the relevant ministries and their organisations for which responsibility must be fixed,” said the prime minister while chairing the fourth consecutive meeting of the cabinet committee on energy in April at the PM House on Friday.

He directed the water and power secretary to constitute a dedicated team for hourly monitoring of the power supply situation.

The prime minister also directed that the team must report on monitoring of the power transmission and distribution system as well on weekly basis.



Besides, the water and power secretary, secretary to finance and PM will also present a line of action for the resolution of issues related to out-of-operation IPPs and present a report in two days.

Sharif also directed the Ministry of Petroleum and the Ministry of Water and Power to work out a balanced conversion plan of power generation plants from furnace oil to Re-gasified Liquid Natural Gas (RLNG) and coal as source and present the plan in the next meeting of the cabinet committee on energy.

“This will help the government to further reduce the cost of electricity for all sectors,” said the PM.

The water and power secretary briefed the meeting on the availability and utilisation of idle IPPs and captive power plants. He also briefed the meeting on issues pertaining to upfront tariff by NEPRA and the load-management plan for the summer.



He informed the meeting that power generation amounting to 866MW has been restored to the system in April and additional 400MW would be added by mid of May 2017.

Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif informed the meeting that the power system constraints resolution programme would be completed by December 2017.

The Minister for Finance briefed the meeting on his meeting with the World Bank president regarding funding of solar power projects in Pakistan.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Water & Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Maryum Aurangzeb, Special Assistant to PM Tariq Fatemi and senior officials.