National News

ISLAMABAD, (APP): State Minister for Water and Power, Abid Sher Ali on Monday apprised the National Assembly that load-shedding from the country would be ended by 2018 due to timely completion of power generation projects in pipeline.
Replying to a question, the minister said that Minister of Water and Power had taken various steps in this regard during the tenure of present government which included completion of under construction projects on war footing basis.
He said that the ministry at the same time has tapped/identified various resources which included solar power projects in Lal Sohanra, wind power projects in Sindh and coal/nuclear based power plant at Thar Sindh, Sahiwal and coastal areas of Karachi.
Abid Sher Ali said that land acquisition for Diamer-Bhasha Dam was under process and construction work would be started by 2017.
The minister said that government was utilizing all its resources to meet target of power generation to overcome load-shedding by 2018. He said that Nandipur power project was generating 425 MW electricity.
Replying to other question, he said that federal government had not received any offer from China for construction of small dams on various rivers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab to generate electricity.
He said that construction works on the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project was in full swing and power generation from the project is likely to start by August 2017.
He said that government has levied Neelum-Jhelum Surcharge on electricity consumers except KESC to meet part of the financing requirements of the projects, which is approximately 11 percent of the projects cost.