ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf chaired his first federal cabinet meeting which focused on the energy crisis in the country. The federal cabinet decided that there will be no loadshedding during Sehri and Iftar time during the month of Ramazan.
Several members of the cabinet expressed their serious concern over the energy crisis and said it could be dangerous if concrete steps were not taken to eliminate it.
The issue of Pak-US relations was also discussed and Prime Minister Ashraf said no hasty decisions would be made regarding the relationship. The prime minister added that parliament had demanded an apology from the Unites States over the Salala attack.
The prime minister also invited Baloch leaders in and outside of Pakistan to hold talks with the government for an acceptable resolution to the crisis in the province.
PPI Adds: The Secretary Water and Power apprised the Cabinet that since the first meeting on June 23,2012, on the subject almost 2000 mw electricity had been added to the national grid and another more than one thousand MW will be put into the system during the next two- three days. The situation of loadshedding will ease up proportionally, the Secretary said.
The Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Water and Power to ensure that there would be no loadshedding during `Sehri' and `Iftar' time during the holy month of Ramazan, commencing from next month.
The Minister for Petroleum informed the Cabinet that he had issued the instructions regarding the release of 28000 tones of fuel oil for the power plants to increase generation of power about 1500 MW electricity within the next two to three weeks.
The Minster of Railways was directed by the prime minister to make special arrangements for the early transportation of the fuel oil so that the same could be used for the power generation.
The Minister Railways said that three special trains had been arranged for the purpose and the supply of the fuel oil would be ensured at the earliest keeping in view the urgency to generate more electricity for the consumers at the earliest possible time.
The Secretary Water and Power was quite upbeat to meet the target of more than 15000mw during the next two to three weeks as the melting of the glaciers were getting momentum with every passing hour and the river flow would improve substantially accordingly.
The Secretary said that the gap between the supply and demand would be narrowed down as such, leading to provision of relief to people from load shedding as hydel power generation will increase.
Minister for Information & Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Qaira dispelled the impression created in the section of press that about more than 600 MW electricity would be taken out of the KESC system to put in the national grid to ease the situation lodshedding in the rest of the country.
The Minister said that the equal amount of electricity will be available to KESC by making its gas-fired plants operational by making gas available to them, which is company's preferred option. So the question of cutting the electricity supply to KESC is simply misplaced and a mere conjecture, the
Minister said.
The Prime Minister also directed the Energy Committee to strategize the cutting of the line losses and also theft of electricity which have been incurring huge losses to the power sector and thus to national exchequer.
The Prime Minister also underscored the importance of the pursuing the arrears to make the sector sustainable because the adherence to the law of survivability is critical in the entrepreneurial organizations.
Prime Minister Ashraf said that conservation was an important component of the strategy to overcome the electricity crisis and therefore must be treated with equal emphasis.