By Saleem Chandio
& Bachal Chandio
KARACHI: Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf has said that power crisis would be resolved in June/July of coming and there would be no power shortfall in the next summer.
Addressing a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Thursday, he said government wants to generate electricity from hydel power, which is a long-term plan. He informed that at present 65 percent of electricity is generated through fuel and the cost will reduce if the same power is generated through hydel source.
“For the time being, to meet the present requirement ’rental power project’ was introduced for short term, which was criticized by people without any consideration,” he said adding audit of the project by ADB and other formalities caused delay in its operation and power crisis could not be resolved on the given schedule.
He was of the view that previous government did not make any concrete measures to resolve electricity crisis and power shortfall. He said planning failure was behind it. He said no dams could be built in past years to save water and generate electricity.
He said IPPs are ready, but there is no gas available to operate them. He further said that gas reduces the cost of power generation by one-third as compared to furnace oil.
He said it is among the priorities of government to resolve power crisis and that the government is already providing subsidy on electricity to provide relief to the people. “The cost of each unit is Rs 8.20-9, whereas it is available to people at Rs 5-5.5,” he said.
Regarding KESC’s performance, he said that the KESC should follow the terms of its agreement and improve its performance. He said excess billing would not be tolerated and action would be taken against any such report.
He said Karachi being a cosmopolitan city is being provided with 700 MW of electricity on daily basis in spite of shortfall all over the country. He said power distribution system in Karachi is very old and it would be modified by 30th June 2010.
He urged people to identify those who steal electricity and said government has initiated drive against power theft in the whole country. He further said that government would clear all its dues to KESC, PEPCO and other related authorities so that all the matters could be resolved.
Earlier, the minister congratulated newly elected body of Karachi Press Club and appreciated that democratic procedure is followed in KPC elections every time. He praised performance of media and said that it has struggled for democracy.
On the occasion, prayer was held for senior journalist Najeeb Ahmed, and for all those who lost their life in attack on Peshawar Press Club.