Pak will spend Rs 15 bn every month for 1500 MW power

Islamabad: The government will spend about Rs 15 billion per month for generating additional electricity of 1500 MW to ensure provision of electricity to industrial and agriculture units from June 15. 'We need Rs 15 billion a month to generate the much needed electricity,' said minister for water and power Raja Pervez Ashraf said.

The minister also confirmed that federal budget for next fiscal year would be announced on June 10 as the Prime Minister is due to leave for Saudi Arabia on an official visit. The PPP parliamentary party meeting, which was held prior to National Assembly session, discussed the upcoming budget for providing relief to poor against dearness.

He said that parliamentary party had given some suggestions for the next budget. While some members expressing concern over inflation wanted the government to take strict measures to control dearness, it was learnt. Pervez Ashraf disclosed that the Prime Minister had agreed to water and power ministry's proposal of generating more electricity from the existing plants. 'Bulk of additional electricity will be provided to industrial and agriculture sectors so that their output could be enhanced,' he said. The national grid will have around 1000 MW additional electricity from the existing plants both in public and private sectors, he claimed.

A high-level inter-ministerial meeting held here the other day, approved the plan of reducing the quantum of load management by about two hours daily. The meeting approved the 1000 MW additional electricity generation from June 10.

The water and power ministry has directed the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and public sector power plants and MD, Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) to take immediate measures to meet the target to generate additional 1000 MW from Gencos and IPPs.

The minister said that the power generation companies (Gencos) had already been directed to keep their plants in order on maximum capacity and no shutdown on minor faults will be allowed. He was of the view that today the country was facing shortage of about 4000 MW electricity which has affected the economy and all segments of society.

He said that the country would have no power shortage next year as the government has started working on multi-pronged strategy that includes installation of rental power plants, minimising line losses, conservation of energy, and generating more power from existing power plants.

Pervez Ashraf said that next budget would be people as well as business-friendly. 'The government will take measures to provide maximum possible relief to the common man while living within affordable fiscal space,' he added. 'We have inherited most of the ills including power shortage, budget overrun, and inflation from the previous government, but efforts are afoot to improve the situation,' he added.