Feeders with less than 50pc recovery to face loadshedding: Kh Asif

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif on Saturday said hour-long loadshedding would continue in areas where consumers did not pay their bills.

There would be loadshedding on feeders with less than 50 per cent recovery, said the minister.

“There are certain areas where 20-hour loadshedding is being carried out because more than 90 per cent of residents have not paid their bills,” he added.

In an interview with BBC, Khawaja Asif said the Kalabagh Dam was vital to national development but it had become a victim of politics. Gen Zia and Gen Musharraf should have worked on convincing others for construction of the project, he added.

He noted that the dictators should have worked on the project “because a dictator doesn’t need any votes to construct a project.

Khawaja Asif once again cited power wastage as the main reason behind loadshedding and said no one including government or public paid attention towards power conservation.

He underlined that the energy crisis would be overcome by next year. “If our people use electricity in a right way instead of wasting it then we can save 3,000 to 4,000 megawatts of electricity but no one ever paid any attention towards this matter,” he added.

When the current government came into power, the main goal was to minimise the difference between power supply and demand, the minister noted.