In May, a third unit will also be commissioned at Guddu which will increase its capacity from 1,655 megawatts to 2,402 megawatts at a time when pressure on the grid will be at its peak as a result of the summer heat. The PM offered the traditional plaudits and platitudes, and promised that in future funds for power projects would be released in a transparent manner and spent on projects that ‘are of benefit to the masses’. He offered no date for an end to power outages and it is going to be with us long into the future, but he did share a part of the big picture in terms of governmental aspirations in the power sector. An additional 21,000 megawatts is to be added to the grid by 2022, by which time the Diamer-Bhasha dam should be operational and the upgrading of Tarbela IV and V complete. We face yet another long hot summer with scant relief, but there is a sense that the current government is beginning to get its priorities right vis-a-vis the power sector.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 23rd, 2014.
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