ISLAMABAD
Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir has said that the power situation in country will start improving from Sunday (May 1) as a result of improved availability of regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) and furnace oil to the power plants.
Addressing a press conference along with Minister of State Hashim Notezai on Friday, the minister for power pointed out that the country is currently facing load-shedding due to shortage of fuel and closure of certain power plants owing to maintenance and technical faults.
The minister said steps have been taken at the power distribution companies to ensure that the situation does not deteriorate further during the days of Eid-ul-Fitr. He said the Discos have been asked to ensure availability of extra transformers to meet with any situation.
Dastgir said, “We are also watching the revenue targets of Discos and requests will also be made to the law enforcement agencies to check power pilferage.” He said that there has been an additional demand of 2,000 to 3,000 megawatts of electricity during the last few days which increased the demand and supply gap.
He said the problem in Pakistan is not electricity generation but the availability of fuel. He said that availability of gas will start from Sunday while coal will begin the next week which will help overcome the shortage of electricity.
Dastgir said Thar coal and Port Qasim coal plants will begin working from Sunday. He said the hydel generation of electricity will begin in June significantly improving electric supply.
Dastagir said technical faults in power plants are also causing power breakdowns in the country. The minister said that the government has suspended the Eid holidays of employees of power distribution companies to deal with the crisis.
“If it was possible to procure RLNG immediately, if it was possible to procure furnace oil and if we had the resources to do so, we wouldn’t be experiencing this severe load-shedding,” Dastagir said. He said the petroleum ministry is working on eliminating the time lag to procure additional RLNG.
Various parts of the country suffered power breakdowns spanning six to 10 hours in urban areas and over 12 hours in rural areas on Thursday. The government holds former prime minister Imran Khan and his administration responsible for the power crisis.
A couple of days earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif blamed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for neither procuring fuel nor undertaking proper maintenance and repair of power plants.
The PTI denies these accusations and claims the PML-N government is to blame for the lengthy power breakdowns.
