ISLAMABAD: In a major breakthrough, the government has slashed the duration of loadshedding of electricity by half throughout the country from today (Tuesday). The maximum loadshedding in the urban areas would be three hours while in case of rural areas, it wouldn’t be more than four hours.
The decision was taken by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday after detailed discussions with the authorities of Water and Power, including Federal Secretary Younus Dhaga. The prime minister has tasked secretary water and power to seamlessly and effectively implement the decision first on trial basis.
Yunus Dhaga told The News here on Monday evening that despite an increase for domestic consumption, the industries will be subject to zero loadshedding like before since the industrial production shouldn’t be harmed in accordance with the directive of the premier.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will personally monitor the implementation of the new schedule of loadshedding. The marked reduction in loadshedding could become possible due to an increase in power generation as Chashma-III (Nuclear Power Generation Unit) and some wind and solar power generation units have started production, which were conceived by the Nawaz government.
The federal secretary for water and power revealed that the Chashma-IV nuclear power plant will also start production in three to four months. Some coal based units are also likely to come in production next year. It will further help in easing up the situation.
To a query, the federal secretary said the schedule could face glitches for a brief period in January during winter and in May in summer due to a reduction in water in dams and production of hydel power. In case of fault in any generation unit, the schedule could be disturbed briefly but overall the slashed loadshedding would be maintained and it would be further reduced as more power comes to the national grid. He assured that the new schedule would stay in place during the summer.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been assuring the nation time and again that his government would eliminate power loadshedding by 2018 and its tariff would also be brought down. The government has already slashed the price of electricity per unit and it is understood that with better mix of the source, the rates would be reduced further.
The consumers have felt a sigh of relief with the announcement made by the government on Monday evening. The areas where the majority does not pay electricity bills, (low recovery areas) loadshedding will be unchanged, the secretary said while referring to the announcement made by the Prime Minister’s House.
