Plan to end power outages: Loadshedding to be cut to 3.5 hours from today, says govt

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Monday the government was "sorry" for the ongoing electricity loadshedding in the country and vowed to fix the issue in the coming days.

In a press conference flanked by federal ministers -- State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik, Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan and Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb -- Abbasi said the government needed time to rectify the power shortage as the country was producing 21,000 megawatts and there was a shortfall of 4,000 megawatts.

As a result of the shortfall, the authorities had to opt for a four-hour loadshedding across the country, the ex-prime minister said. Abbasi said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday held a meeting in this regard and decided to reduce loadshedding to 3.5 hours, adding that additional funds have been released to facilitate power providers.

“We will reduce loadshedding to three-and-a-half hours,” he said, adding that additional money had been paid while oil had also been arranged to ensure this. "We are hopeful that by tomorrow loadshedding will be reduced to 3.5 hours."

In the next phase, when coal is imported, loadshedding will move below three hours by June 16, Abbasi said, adding that from June 30, the power outages will be in between 1.5-2 hours only.

He expressed the hope that the government would be able to reduce this further during the month of July. The PML-N leader further said that the government was not interested in making excuses and was focused on fixing the issues plaguing the country. He lashed out at the former PTI government for the lies it told regarding establishing power plants, saying that Pakistan was unable to fulfil its electricity demand for the summer.