Incompetence in energy sector unprecedented: Shehbaz Sharif

The govt lied to people when it claimed short term deals were not available, PML-N leader claims

ISLAMABAD:

PML-N President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif censured the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for “unprecedented incompetence and mismanagement in the country’s energy sector”.

The PML-N leader alleged that the flawed government policies and pervasive corruption in the sector were responsible for “record high shortage of electricity and gas in the country”.

“PTI government's incompetence and corruption in this sector is unprecedented. The nation is beset by extensive load-shedding of both gas and electricity”.He claimed that during the PML-N tenure, domestic and industrial users enjoyed uninterrupted supply of gas and electricity.

He claimed that last year the Finsbury had offered the country gas at affordable prices in the wake of surge in Covid-19 cases. However, he added, “the PTI government refused to buy it and chose to buy the same gas at twice the cost”.“The government lied to the people when it claimed that short term deals were not available, which is incomprehensible,” the opposition leader said, adding that consequently, country was made to pay 20 percent extra for furnace oil.

“This government ran power plants on three times more expensive fuels -- which in turn led to exponential increase in circular debt”.Shehbaz said the PML-N government had bought 80 percent cheaper gas during its tenure in government when the country was going through billions of loss due to shortage of electricity and gas."The PTI government continuously lied that PML-N's decision to get into long-term agreements was wrong.

They said shortage of gas would only last for 6 months of winters”.“But as the nation can see, the country is faced by severe shortages in the peak of summer,” Shehbaz said. “Who is responsible for this blunder?” he questioned.He pointed out that while the entire country was facing severe gas and electricity shortages, Karachi is the worst hit.

How would exporters meet their targets without gas and electricity and how would the economy flourish, he questioned.

Shehbaz said PTI's performance in the energy sector can only be described as a take of incompetence, greed and corruption.