10,000 MW To Be Added In National Grid Till 2018: Dhaga

Rukhshan Mir (@rukhshanmir) Published November 09, 2016 | 08:40 PM

ISLAMABAD, Nov 9 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 09th Nov, 2016 ) : Secretary for Water & Power Muhammad Yunus Dhaga on Wednesday said that 10,000 MW would be added in national grid till 2018 and it would help to remove power loadshedding from the country.

Speaking in ptv programme 'Economy in Focus', he said Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had directed to reduce loadshedding in urban areas to three hours and rural areas to four hours per day but it could not be implemented in those areas where were huge line losses.

He said the government was trying its best to overcome line losses and power theft to provide uninterrupted power supply to the consumers. There was zero loadshedding in industrial sector during last two years.

Yunus Dhaga said the ministry has introduced a mobile meter reading system, it would help to resolve the consumer's complaints regarding over billing and wrong meter reading as it had already implemented in FESCO and there was decline in line losses in Faisalabad.

He said the Federal and provincial governments have been providing subsidize electricity to Balochistan.

He said,"We were trying to resolve the problems of power supply between WAPDA and Sindh government.

WAPDA would introduce smart meters in Sindh that would help in resolve the issues of over billing." He said the Thar coal project would provide sufficient energy in the country. He said the government would convert furnace oil into coal and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) power plants which would produce cheap energy.

He said that 30,000 MW would be added in national grid till 2022 and it would be sufficient more then power demand in the country, adding it would help in replacing inefficient power plants. He said the construction work on Dasu, Neelam-Jehlum and Tarbella IV were underway and these would be completed in 2018.

Nandipur power project would be shifted on gas, he said. "We were making hectic efforts to improve transmission and distribution system to facilitate the consumers," he added.