National News

ISLAMABAD, (MILLAT+APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz
Sharif Monday said end of power shortages was essential for
realizing the huge economic potential of the country.
Addressing a meeting to review progress on various
energy related projects, here at PM House, the Prime Minister
said the tireless efforts of the present government are not
only restricted to end power shortages from the country by
2018 as the long term plans of the government include
production of more than 30,000 MWs of electricity by 2022.
“Never in the history of Pakistan have there been such
huge investments made for production of electricity; aiming to
fulfil our needs and also cater for the projected demands in
the future,” a statement from the PM House quoted the prime
minister as saying.
He regretted that unfortunately the issue was ignored by
the successive governments in last 15 years. He said increased
power generation would substantially contribute towards
economic growth and increased industrial activities.
The Prime Minister said he was personally monitoring the
progress on the ongoing power projects across the country to
ensure their timely completion.
“Our energy plan is the centerpiece of our economic
vision and no laxity in the execution and completion of energy
projects could be tolerated,” the Prime Minister said.
The meeting was given a detailed briefing on the
capacity and timeline for completion of various ongoing power
projects in Pakistan.
The meeting was informed that around 10,996 MW of power
would be added to the national grid by March 2018 against an
expected generation shortfall of 7000 to 8000 MW, estimated
for 2017-18. The significant addition of power to the national
grid would eliminate load shedding from the country.
The meeting was briefed that work on improving the
transmission system was going on in all parts of the country,
which was being closely monitored by the Ministry of Water and
Power.
The system augmentation work for carrying the additional
capacity will be completed by the end of 2017, which will make
the country’s 90% transmission system constraint-free, the
meeting was informed.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance Ishaq
Dar, Minister for Panning, Development & Reform Ahsan Iqbal,
Minister for Water & Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Chief
Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, SAPM Tariq Fatemi and
other senior officials of the government.