Govt says no load shedding during sehri, iftar

Lakhra Power Company to be restarted, power minister assures Senate panel

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Power Omar Ayub Khan on Friday assured a parliamentary panel that there would be no load shedding during sehri and iftar times in the holy month of Ramazan.

The Senate Standing Committee on Power in its meeting on Friday praised performance of the ministry and acknowledged its efforts to bring respite to people, especially in Ramazan. Omar Ayub assured the committee that there would be no load management during sehri and iftar.

Discussing feeder-wise line losses and recovery percentage for the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco), the committee was informed that there had been reduction of 0.9 per cent transmission and distribution (T&D) losses during January and March, 2019 as compared to the previous year.

Taking up the matter of Lakhra Power Generation Company, the committee shared its reservations with the ministry, which reassured the panel that the project will be restarted.

Discussing the issue of transformers that has plagued consumers for long especially during summer, the panel was informed that a crackdown had been launched on the mafia responsible for irregularities.

According to the current procedure, defective transformers will be replaced by the ministry and faulty devices will be sent for repair to pre-registered workshops.

The committee laid stress on the need for solarisation to run tube wells in Balochistan. The ministry acknowledged the suggestion and said solarisation of tube well is on list of priorities for Balochistan.

The committee was informed about variable renewable energy projects that are viable for developing countries to deal with the power crisis in Pakistan. The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline (Tapi) and AMI Electric meters were also discussed.

The panel also took up the heat-rate issue as notified by the National Electric Power Regulator Authority (Nepra) and recommended that this must be dealt with as an exclusive agenda in the next meeting. It directed Nepra to revisit calibration ad calculation of heat-rate so that energy prices in Pakistan may be controlled.

The meeting was presided over by Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak. Senators – Sirajul Haq, Faiz Muhammad, Shahzaib Durrani, Moula Bux Chandio – and senior officers of Nepra and the Ministry of Power attended the moot.