Deadline set: PM vows to end load-shedding by Dec 2017

Nawaz says government is building 3 major gas-based power plants which will be functional by the end of 2017

ISLAMABAD: For the first time since taking office, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced December 2017 as the deadline to end electricity load-shedding, amid skepticism within power producers who believe that outages will continue even after the new cut-off date.

“The government is building three major gas-based power plants and by 2017, when the new plants are functional, we expect to end load-shedding in Pakistan,” the prime minister said, while addressing the Second Pakistan Investment Conference in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The premier further that the government’s focus was not just limited to ending load-shedding, adding that it was aiming to lay the foundations of a robust energy sector that would meet the country’s needs for the next two decades.



The prime minister had so far refrained from announcing any deadline to end load-shedding during his ongoing tenure unlike his brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who had earlier made ambitious statements about ending the energy crisis.

However, the premier had previously said that load-shedding would end before his government’s tenure expired.

At present, residents of many parts of the country are subject to minimum six-hour a day load-shedding as the government is not generating enough power to minimise the losses due to a high ratio of theft and low-recovery.

Meanwhile, while speaking at the same platform, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the government has also undertaken execution of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) power plants that will produce 3,600 megawatts electricity at a rate of seven cents per unit.



On the other hand, power producers remain skeptic.

“The list of electricity generation projects that the government wants to complete is fantastic but all of them will not come online by 2017,” said Chief Executive Officer of Orient Power Company Nadeem Babar.

He said with the increase of supply, demand will also increase due to shifting of in-house power generation to grid power

Babar said that as compared to India’s 952 units per capita electricity consumption, Pakistan’s per capita consumption was suppressed at 495 units per person, which will pick up once generation increases.

The CEO also said that the country’s distribution network was like a leaking bucket and the more we produce, the more the electricity losses, bringing the energy sector’s financial viability under question. He said by 2017, there will be cyclical load-shedding of a minimum of four-hours a day.

“I don’t know whether Babar’s estimates are misplaced or well placed,” said Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif, while avoiding a response to the pertinent points raised by the power producer.

However, Secretary Water and Power Younus Dagha said that in last nine months, his ministry reduced line losses from 19% to 18.2 % and improved bills recovery from 88.6% to 90%.

Utilising the opportunity to highlight his government’s performance, Prime Minister Nawaz said that the results of recent local bodies’ elections and by-elections indicated that people of Pakistan do acknowledge and appreciate the tough choices his government made while undertaking reforms.

The prime minister also expressed willingness to have peace and security within borders and beyond. “We want friendly relations with all nations in our region and the world at large,” he said.