FAISALABAD - Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan on Tuesday said that the government had decided that only indigenous fuel-based power plants would be established in future to provide sufficient and cheap electricity to the masses.
According to press release by the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) here, the federal minister held a meeting with business community in FCCI Complex late Monday night and said that he had performed the ground-breaking ceremony of a 500-KV new grid station in Allama Iqbal Industrial City (AIIC) which was a part of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He said, “One-year ago, when Shehbaz Sharif came into power, we decided that power houses would be completed on top priority basis on which work was abandoned during 2018-2022.”
He said that because of their sincere efforts 720-MW Karot Hydroelectric Power Project had been completed. Similarly, the stuck-up projects in Thar coal were also geared up and during one-year 1980-MW of electricity was added in the system from these projects, he added. He said that K3 and K4 nuclear power houses were initiated in 2014 during the period of Nawaz Sharif. K3 would generate 1100-MW and it was expected to become operational very soon, adding that during one-year, 7800-MW electricity was added in the system and all these projects had been based on local fuel.
He said, “Despite inflation and appreciation of the dollar, we had not increased the rates of electricity since last September as we were getting cheap electricity from Thar and Karot. With addition of 7800-MW electricity, our total generation capacity had jumped to 28,000-MW.” He further said that during last June peak load demand was 30,000-MW which reduced to 8,600-MW in January this year. “In order to keep 22,000-MW generation capacity intact, we have to make capacity payments,” he added. He said that Pakistan had additional generation capacity but old and inefficient power houses were used in case of dire need as the electricity produced by these units was very costly. He said that his ministry was making strenuous efforts to resolve the other technical problems in addition to improving the transmission system in country. He said that just 5-6 month ago, he inaugurated new grid stations at Lalian and Painsra and FESCO had made savings of Rs.1.5 billion due to these grid stations while Iran-Gwadar transmission line had also been completed.
