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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.
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