Chronic power crisis to end by 2017: PM

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


Our Correspondent November 04, 2015
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addresses the second Pakistan Investment Conference. PHOTO: NNI

ISLAMABAD: For the first time since taking office nearly three years ago, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced on Wednesday a definitive deadline for reining in the chronic electricity crisis plaguing the country. Independent power producers remain skeptical, however.

“The government is building three major gas-fired power plants, and by 2017 when the new plants will be commissioned, we expect an end to load-shedding in Pakistan,” he said while addressing the second Pakistan Investment Conference. “My government aims to lay the foundation of a robust energy sector that will meet our needs for the next two decades.”

The premier said that apart from retiring a whopping Rs480 billion circular debt, the government has also taken measures to curtail the flow of further debt by raising and rationalising power tariffs.

Nawaz Sharif had earlier distanced himself from his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif’s claim that the ruling party would put an end to load shedding within two years. However, he has consistently said that power outages would end before the end of his government’s tenure.

At present, households are subjected to minimum six-hour a day load shedding, as the government is not generating more power to minimise the losses due to high ratios of theft and low recoveries despite its capacity to generate more.

According to experts, ending load shedding in the next two years or more will be a big challenge for a government that faces issues like lack of coordination among federal ministries and resources constraints.

The government has undertaken execution of LNG-based power plants that will produce 3,600 megawatts electricity at a rate of 7 cents per unit, said Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi while speaking at the same platform.

“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 Orient Power Company’s CEO Nadeem Babar.

Babar, who was also addressing the investment conference, said that with the increase of supply, the demand will also increase due to shifting of in-house power generation to grid power, keeping the gap between demand and supply.

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 the generation increases.

Babar said the country’s distribution network was like a leaking bucket – the more you produce, the more will be the losses, bringing energy sector’s financial viability under question. He said by 2017 there will be cyclical load shedding of minimum four-hour a day.

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

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


Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2015.

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