Karachi suffers major power breakdown

KARACHI: The residents of Karachi endured a major power breakdown on Saturday that affected several areas of the city.

Due to the breakdown, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board could not supply millions of gallons of water on Saturday to the residents of the city owing to the abrupt shutdown of its main Dhabeji and Pipri pumping stations caused by prolonged power breakdown in the city.

The Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani said all the efforts of the Sindh government and the KWSB to ensure uninterrupted water supply to the people of Karachi were ruined due to the unsatisfactory performance of K Electric. Ghani appealed to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority and the federal government to immediately seek explanation from the K Electric over frequent power breakdowns causing immense disturbance to the water supply system. According to Ghani, four main pumping lines of the KWSB were ruptured while two heavy pumping motors at the Dhabeji and Pipri pumping stations broke down because of the abrupt shutdown of power supply. It was the fourth such incident of power failure in the city in a short span of 20 days. The minister lamented that the KWSB had to incur expenses to the tune of millions of rupees to repair the faulty heaving pumping motors. The people of the city are the ultimate sufferers due to frequent and prolonged electricity breakdown, Ghani said and added the frequent power suspensions have also intensified water crisis in the city.

Irked by the several hours long power breakdown in various parts of the city, the Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah directed the Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh to contact the K Electric to ensure swift resumption of power supply. The Chief Minister, said the power breakdowns are causing immense hardships to the people and paralysing economic activities in the city. Shah also ordered the KWSB to keep its water supply system in the city up and running during such prolonged power breakdown in Karachi.

Censuring the K Electric for frequent massive power breakdowns, the Jamaat-e-Islami demanded that the privately owned power utility be nationalised. Addressing a press conference, JI Karachi Amir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman condemned the frequent power outages that crippled a large area of the city and worsened the water crisis. He said the K Electric owed Rs200 billion to the national institutions and the residents of Karachi because of overbilling, unpaid dues and other reasons.

Hafiz Naeem also asked the Supreme Court to fix the party’s petition for hearing before it is late. “The power utility was sold twice to private firms. A forensic audit of all its operation, especially of the accounts and finance, be done and a judicial commission be set to [investigate its shortcomings],” Rehman said. Demanding the nationalisation of the KE, the JI leader warned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led federal government that if they raised power tariffs, the JI will take to the streets in a “strong reaction and will pose resistance”. He claimed that the country’s exchequer was hit with a massive loss of Rs2 trillion when the Karachi Electric Supply Coorporation was privatised. He also accused the Abraaj Group of not investing the agreed $361 million to upgrade the power transimission and distribution system of the KE.

Meanwhile, the power utility, in its clarification, passed the buck for power breakdown to a fault in the transmission line of the national grid. The sudden disruption in the power supply to Karachi from the national grid had a rollover effect on local circuits, the K Electric said. According to the power utility, the power was promptly restored by the national grid, while the K Electric plants landed safely in ‘island mode’ that helped catalyse the restoration. The K Electric also claimed that it maintained close coordination with the authorities during the breakdown. According to a K Electric spokesperson, “ the K Electric has invested over US$ 2 billion since 2009 across the entire value chain whereas around US$ 500 million was invested to expand and rehabilitate its transmission network”. Thoe power utility also regretted the inconvenience caused to its customers.