5-hour loadshedding till January: Minister

LAHORE - Power distribution companies either will be privatised or to be given on contract due to their poor performance and heavy line losses. This was stated by Advisor to PM on Finance Shaukat Tarin while responding to a question during a joint press briefing also addressed by Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
He disclosed the government was considering to launch a new product -better than bonds- to pay the circular debt of Rs 250 billion.
The advisor stressed the need for taking radical steps in power sector to minimise financial burden on the masses.
Earlier addressing the press conference at Wapda House after a meeting, Ashraf said that due to shortfall of around 2,500 megawatt power the loadshedding will be carried out up to 5 hours till the month of Jan.
The minister said that the present power crisis was due to gap between demand and supply and the government was working to bridge this gap. He said that projects were being initiated to completely overcome loadshedding in the country by December, 2009.
Federal Minister said that said that he was dissatisfied with the performance of some DISCOs and asked their management to take necessary steps to improve their efficiency.