Islamabad: Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastagir has said that the government will require approximately Rs 329 billion to control load shedding by June 15, 2022.
“There will be a visible reduction in power load-shedding during next ten days as the thermal plants would start getting RLNG supply from May 1 and furnace oil from May 2,” announced Khurrum Dastagir in a press conference here.
Minister for Power said that the government would require an amount of Rs 108b till May 25, Rs 136b till June 7, and Rs 85b till June 15 for the power sector to address the issue of load-shedding. Flanked by Minister for State Hashim Notezai, Khurram Dastagir said that the circular debt has reached Rs 2.46 trillion and blamed the PTI government for recent power outages that had failed to arrange the fuel for power plants.
The minister said it is not a generation capacity problem; instead, technical and fuel issues have resulted in electricity shortages. He said that around 5739MW is under force outage due to fuel shortage, while 2156MW is out of the system due to technical reasons.
He said that to boost power production, the power plants would start getting RLNG supply from May 1 and the required quantity of furnace oil from May 2.
Minister claimed that there was zero load-shedding in the country when the PML-N government completed its five-year tenure on May 31, 2018.
Khurram Dastagir hoped to witness a visible reduction in power load-shedding during the next ten days following an enhanced supply of fuel and maintenance of plants.
He disclosed shortage of fuel supply and closures of power plants for maintenance purposes had led to power outages across the country. The plants with a total 5,739 MW generation capacity were shut down following a fuel supply shortage.
They did not procure RLNG, coal and furnace oil to generate electricity. Some plants having 2156MW capacity were also shut down for routine and technical maintenance.
The minister further announced that from May 1, 300 MW Engro Power Plant and Port Qasim Power Plants would start generating electricity.
He said the previous government did not timely arrange fuel for the power plants causing the power outage.
The minister said the incumbent government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would take all possible steps to curtail the menace of load-shedding.
The government has already formed teams in all power distribution companies (DISCOs) for prompt responses to address the complaints during Eid.
He said the government had canceled staff leaves to cope with any untoward situation. He further added that the government had given a revenue target to all DISCOs. It also directed to enforce of all possible steps to stop power theft.
The minister said the DISCOs had been directed to install all pending connections and promptly address consumers’ complaints.
Khurram Dastagir regretted the violation of the sanctity of Masjid e Nabvi (Peace Be Upon Him) and said it was a regrettable incident. He appreciated the Saudi authorities for taking immediate action. Agreement with K-Electric was on at an advanced stage, he added. He said low efficient power plants would be phased out with energy-efficient plants.