National News

ISLAMABAD, (MILLAT ONLINE):Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Aftab Ahmed Sheikh on Friday informed the Senate that
as per revised PC-1, new Islamabad International Airport would cost around Rs 81
billion and an amount of Rs 75.887 billion has been spent on it so far.
Replying to various supplementary questions during Question Hour, the minister said the
project was near to completion and it would be opened shortly.
He said the airport was being connected with network of roads. Work on Metro Bus
project was also being carried out on fast track to provide best facilities to
the commuters, he added.
He said dam has also been competed to fulfill water requirement of the new
Islamabad airport besides installing 11 tube wells.
To another question, the minister said the PIA flights on New York route have been
suspended due to annually loss of Rs 1 bln. A sub-committee has been set up
to review affairs of PIA besides appointing new Chief of the Airline.
He said the government was making all out efforts to address PIA issues. More aircrafts
were being acquired on dry and wet leases to expand flights operation, he
added.
To a question, Aftab Ahmed said National Electric Power Regulatory
Authority (NEPRA) was pursuing the compliance level of Performance Standards (Distribution) Rules
(PSDR) 2005.
NEPRA was carrying out monitoring activities of K-Electric on regular basis since last few years, he
added. He said during monitoring/verification of media reports regarding un-due
load shedding in Karachi in 2015, it was established that K-Electric failed to
provide uninterrupted power supply to its consumers on a non-discriminatory
basis.
Based on the monitoring results in 2015, NEPRA initiated legal proceedings and after due process, a fine of Rs 10 million was
imposed on K-Electric.
Similarly, the same situation was also noted while carrying out the monitoring in 2016 and
accordingly, K-Electric was strictly directed to follow the requirements of
Performance Standards (Distribution) Rules 2005, he said.
The minister said NEPRA has taken serious notices of all major power breakdowns occurred in Karachi in 2017 and acquired
detailed power outages reports from K-Electric.
An explanation has also been issued to K-Electric upon the failure of power supply on June 28,
2017, he said.