Load shedding to be reference of history, says PM Nawaz
PRIME MINISTER Nawaz Sharif, while chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy at the Prime Minister’s House on Tuesday, said that significant addition of power to the national grid with the completion of ongoing projects would eliminate load shedding in Pakistan for all times to come.
The meeting was given a detailed briefing on the timeline of the completion of the ongoing power projects by Federal Secretary Water and Power Younus Dagha. The prime minister was briefed that the power projects would be completed before March 2018, according to a press release issued by the PM’s Office here.
The projects that would be completed between the given timeline will include, three LNG power plants (Bhikki, Haveli-Bahadur, Baloki (3600 MW), Chashma 3 & 4 Nuclear (340 MW each), Guddu Gas (400 MW), Nandipur (100 MW), Sahiwal Coal (1320 MW), Various Wind/Bagasse (350 MW), Patrind HPP Hydel (147 MW), Faisalabad Gas (250 MW), Neelum-Jhelum (969 MW), Tarbella 4 Extension (1410 MW) and Port Qasim Power Plant (1320 MW).
The meeting was assured that a total of 11,131 megawatts would be made available to the national grid by March 2018. The meeting was also briefed that all transmission line projects were on track to evacuate ongoing power projects, and billions of rupees had been invested in the existing distribution network to bear the load of additionally generated power through completion of ongoing power projects.
PM Sharif said that in the history of the country such a huge investment had never been made in the energy sector. “The government is not only working to meet the energy shortfall but is also catering to future energy needs of the country,” he added.
The premier said that increased power generation would also contribute to economic growth, employment generation, increased industrial activity and foreign investment. He said he would personally monitor progress of the ongoing power projects across the country and would also visit sites of all power projects to ensure their timely completion. The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Special Assistant to PM Tariq Fatemi and senior officials.