Govt to stop supply of 700MW to KESC

Company will be provided gas and oil to produce its own electricity.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Water and Power Minister Ahmed Mukhtar has announced that the government will stop supplying 700 megawatts of electricity to the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) to meet the requirements of National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), a decision which comes in the face of power riots in Punjab.

“We will provide gas and oil to KESC so that it could produce equal amount of electricity from its own power plants to meet the demand of Karachi consumers,” Mukhtar said while talking to a select media here on Monday.

He said KESC was receiving 700 megawatts of electricity on a daily basis even after its privatisation. “Now, we are working to stop export of 700MW, so that NTDC could meet its requirements.”

Commenting on prolonged power outages, he agreed that these were the result of poor governance, but ruled out any shortage of oil for power production. He expressed the hope that electricity supply would reach 13,500 megawatts by Tuesday evening compared to around 12,000 megawatts on Monday.

“We have fuel but there are hurdles in the way of transportation through tankers and railways,” he said.

Because of a sharp decline in power production, Hyderabad is facing eight hours of load-shedding every day, Lahore nine hours, Multan eight hours and Islamabad seven hours.

NTDC MD controversy

As NTDC Managing Director Rasool Khan Mehsud continued to hold office despite suspension, the water and power minister, while talking to the media, threatened that he would quit if Mehsud did not relinquish the charge.

According to sources, the NTDC managing director was enjoying the backing of a political party and the presidency. Now, the presidency has assured the minister that the NTDC managing director would be removed.

“One of us will have to leave the office and I will quit if he (Mehsud) remains in the office,” Mukhtar told reporters.

Soon after taking charge of the ministry about three weeks ago, Mukhtar had suspended Mehsud, citing ‘poor performance’. However, according to sources, he is still dealing with day-to-day affairs of the company.

“We have taken up the issue with the presidency and Mehsud will have to quit the post in a couple of days,” the minister stressed.

Mukhtar alleged that Mehsud was using his political connections to stick to his position, but said he would be shown the door soon and that required no summary to be sent to the prime minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2012.