More electricity to be available soon, says Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said that more electricity would soon be available in the system and directed that loadshedding in summer in urban areas should not be more than six hours and in rural areas not more than eight hours.
The prime minister chaired the 10th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy here at the PM House. He directed that steps should be taken for improving the security of plants and transmission lines.
The prime minister asked the Water and Power Ministry to look into the possibility for improving its own capacity for providing security to the transmission lines.
He also gave directions that electricity should be provided to villages near the plants in especially Lesco, should be directed to remove their internal distribution system constraints.
The prime minister was informed about progress on 3,600MW LNG based power projects along with timelines for whose execution a National Power Management Company along with three subsidiary companies have been formed.
According to the timeline by August 2017 combined cycle generating 3,600MW would be completed while open cycle would be started by the end of 2016. The prime minister directed that all timelines should be strictly followed so that power generation could be started before the deadline.
Earlier, chairman Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) gave presentation on Power Generation Policy 2015. He informed the Committee that previous power policies of 1994 and 2002 were restrictive and did not cater to the new fuels that are being added to the power generation system i.e. Coal and LNG.
He explained salient features of the new policy as well as major improvements being recommended. He informed the Committee that a new policy is needed in order to address the concerns arising due to use of new fuels and delayed payments to power generation companies. The new policy, after formulation, will be put up before the Council of Common Interest (CCI) for approval whose meeting would be convened next week.
Secretary Water and Power gave a presentation on projected demand and supply during summers of 2015 along with a load management plan. The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for Finance; Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Petroleum; Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning; Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Water & Power; Abid Sher Ali, MOS for Water & Power; Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to PM on National Security; Syed Tariq Fatemi, SAPM on Foreign Affairs and Secretary Water and Power Yunus Dhaga.