Charge sheet: Coal-based power projects are fraud, says PAT

Report slams govt for failing to end load shedding in two years.

LAHORE: Coal-based power projects and MoUs being signed in this regard is a fraud with the people of Pakistan, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek said in a report issued on Friday.

The report, released by PAT president Raheeq Ahmed Abbasi, said the government had signed a number of MoUs for setting up coal-based power plants only to receive kickbacks from foreign investors. It said the government was claiming that it would produce electricity using liquefied natural gas. “This, too, will prove an eyewash.” Abbasi said LNG was not discovered overnight. He said the government had failed to fulfil the promise it had made during election campaign to end load shedding in two years. Instead, he said, power outages had increased crippling the country’s industry.

“The government has no [proper] power policy. It does not have the vision to look into the future needs and devise its policies accordingly.”

He slammed the government for blaming political parties that had staged sit-ins in Islamabad for creating hurdles to foreign investment. He said the government had abandoned some power projects including the Gadani power project. He said the government had wasted Rs15 billion on Nandipur power project that he said was a thing of past now. “Hydel power projects are the most affordable source of power generation.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2015.