Maximise productivity at power stations to solve power crisis: Ch Shujaat Hussain
Urges crack down on electricity thieves.
LAHORE:
With protests over load shedding growing in intensity with each passing day, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid president Senator Chuadhry Shujaat Hussain has put forward a simple solution to end the national crisis: deduct NFC award money from provinces, reallocate to power plants, maximise productivity, problem considerably resolved if not completely eliminated.
Talking to media at his Gulberg residence, Hussain recapped the crisis. Installed power generation capacity in the country stood at 23000 megawatt against which 15000 megawatt of power was produced daily. The remaining power plants are either closed or producing electricity less than their installed capacity due to lack of resources to meet oil and other requirements, he pointed out.
Detailing his plan, the PML-Q Senator said that under the NFC Award, provinces are due to get another Rs50 billion in the remaining three months of the current financial year. Given the crisis, he suggested that the federation deduct this amount for the remaining months, allocate to the power plants to maximise production, there will then be no reason why electricity load shedding could not be fully eliminated in cities and its duration reduced considerably in the rural areas.
He said if the provincial governments cooperated with the centre then this problem can easily be solved.
However, Hussain was quick to hinge the success of his ‘simple formula’ on the vision of all the Chief Ministers of the provinces. Reminding the benefits of his formula, he said mills would start working again, unemployment would be reduced to a great deal, protesting workers would go back to their machines and the national economy, plummeting, would start getting better and may even grow.
The PML-Q President further stressed that there needs to be a full-fledged campaign against power thefts and it should be enforced forcefully so that honest electricity consumers are not unnecessarily over-burdened and their bills are reduced. Such a step, he added, would be a step in the right direction and go a long way in improving the national economy.
With protests over load shedding growing in intensity with each passing day, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid president Senator Chuadhry Shujaat Hussain has put forward a simple solution to end the national crisis: deduct NFC award money from provinces, reallocate to power plants, maximise productivity, problem considerably resolved if not completely eliminated.
Talking to media at his Gulberg residence, Hussain recapped the crisis. Installed power generation capacity in the country stood at 23000 megawatt against which 15000 megawatt of power was produced daily. The remaining power plants are either closed or producing electricity less than their installed capacity due to lack of resources to meet oil and other requirements, he pointed out.
Detailing his plan, the PML-Q Senator said that under the NFC Award, provinces are due to get another Rs50 billion in the remaining three months of the current financial year. Given the crisis, he suggested that the federation deduct this amount for the remaining months, allocate to the power plants to maximise production, there will then be no reason why electricity load shedding could not be fully eliminated in cities and its duration reduced considerably in the rural areas.
He said if the provincial governments cooperated with the centre then this problem can easily be solved.
However, Hussain was quick to hinge the success of his ‘simple formula’ on the vision of all the Chief Ministers of the provinces. Reminding the benefits of his formula, he said mills would start working again, unemployment would be reduced to a great deal, protesting workers would go back to their machines and the national economy, plummeting, would start getting better and may even grow.
The PML-Q President further stressed that there needs to be a full-fledged campaign against power thefts and it should be enforced forcefully so that honest electricity consumers are not unnecessarily over-burdened and their bills are reduced. Such a step, he added, would be a step in the right direction and go a long way in improving the national economy.