KARACHI: Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf has advised electricity consumers to endure power shortage for a few more months, saying all matters about overcoming electricity shortfall have been resolved and power shortage would be overcome by June 2010.
Talking to the media at Karachi Press Club on Thursday, Ashraf justified the decision to increase electricity tariffs, saying it was necessary because the government could not take responsibility for all the subsidies. The government is currently generating power at Rs 8.20 to Rs 9 per unit, he added. He said the country would have to shoulder high prices of furnace oil if the government does not switch to hydel power generation. Pakistan State Oil Managing Director Irfan Qureshi had also previously warned about the difficulties the country could face due to depleting furnace oil production, he added.
He also said his ministry had approached the Asian Development Bank for auditing 2,250 projects that had been cleared and it was only after this clearance that the government had given the rental power projects the green light, which even though was a costly bet, but gravely needed. The rental power projects would satisfy the power needs of the country by June 2010, he added.
He further said, “The independent power projects are ready, but the law and order situation and the issue of availability of gas is scaring away the investors.”
He was of the view that the availability of gas in the months leading to summer would be an attraction for the investors.
He reminded that Pakistan’s annual requirement was somewhere between 0.8 percent and 1.8 percent. This demand would double in the next 10 years and some very unpopular decisions are needed to meet these demands, he added.
Ashraf said it was unfortunate that construction of dams was progressing at a slow pace, pointing out that besides Mangla and Tarbela, the country did not have any other dams to depend on for water power generation. He also said this was the reason why Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was attaching importance with the under-construction Ghazi Barotha Dam.
Pakistan’s current annual requirement of electricity is 6,400 megawatts and “in 1994, we (the PPP government) had started an investment programme in the power sector, in which five companies had decided to generate 5,000 megawatts of electricity. After our government was removed those investors were harassed...some of them were even jailed and the entire programme had to be scrapped. Things were so bad that not a single penny of investment has come in the power sector since then,” he commented. He also attacked the Karachi Electric Supply Company for its dismal performance and warned the management of strict action if it failed to honour its commitments.
He said the system of transmission was obsolete and demanded the KESC to revamp it for smooth supply of electricity. He also said the ministry was thinking of deploying police and magistrates to catch power thieves. staff report.....LINK
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