Federation intends to resolve issues of KP: Abid

PESHAWAR: Minister of State for Water and Power, Abid Sher Ali Tuesday said the federal government under the leadership of Prime Minister, Muhamamd Nawaz Sharif was endeavoring to resolve the issues with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said following the directives of Prime Minister, the agreement to pay Rs 70 billion to KP was reached between the federation and the provincial government. It was historic achievement and reflected acumen of the Prime Minister, he added. Addressing a press conference here after attending a briefing at WAPDA House, he said that incessant efforts are being made to end load shedding in the country by increasing power generation and upgrading electricity distribution system.

He said ambitious plans of the government in energy sector would end the load shedding from the country by 2017-18. He said that project worth billions of rupees had been initiated to resolve the electricity related issues of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that line losses on 670 feeders of 867 in KP were being faced, while the ratio of losses on 120 feeders is 80 percent.

He said that a committee had been constituted to take KP government on board regarding issues of load shedding which after consultation and help of concerned parliamentarians would convince people to pay electricity bills.