FAISALABAD: Eight to ten thousand megawatts of electricity will be injected in national grid by March 2018 while two major transmission line projects are also ready for implementation, said Abid Sher Ali State Minister for Water and Power.
He was addressing a meeting of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) here.
He said that with effective management, honesty, transparency and effective administrative efforts, the incidents of power theft have been reduced to minimum which helped in elimination of load shedding of electricity particularly for the industrial sector.
Similarly, the industry mix feeders are also observing only four hours load shedding as government is making best efforts to provide electricity to the industrial sector on top priority basis.
He told that when the government took over charge, the electricity generation was dwindling at 13.5 to 14 thousand mega watts as against the generation capacity of 18.5 thousand mega watts.
“We are committed to take power generation up to 16900 by the coming July, August”, he hoped and added that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is very keenly monitoring the under construction power plants and in this connection, he is regularly chairing weekly two meetings.
He said that honesty and transparency is yet another hallmark of the present government. We have saved Rs.110 billion from the construction of only three power plants including Bhikki, Baloki and Haveli Bahadur Shah power plants. Responding to a question about corruption and power theft, he clarified that all these allegations pertain to the projects initiated by the previous government.
He said that in some cases intentional delay also caused inflation and increase in cost of production. He said that present government believes in self accountability and all projects were completed with utmost sincerity and honesty. He said that now the focus of his ministry is on provision of cheap electricity and for this purpose we are also undertaking hydel projects. “These are not only time consuming but also cost intensive”, he clarified.
He said that we prefer to construct coal fired plants which can generate comparatively cheap electricity. He told that a tender for Matiari-Lahore transmission line has been floated and Prime Minister is expected to inaugurate work this project during next month.
He said that another major transmission line would also be laid from Port Qasim to Faisalabad. We have also planned to lay a pipeline to carry LNG from Karachi to the proposed gas fired power plants, he added.
Abid Sher Ali said that the Nawaz Sharif government has successfully overcome the hydra-headed monster of terrorism and now we are expecting to further expedite the process of progress and prosperity in the country. He acknowledged the contribution of industrial sector in over all national development and said that value added sector will be given due preferences in the supply of electricity and gas despite of some technical hurdles. He also thanked the business community for cooperating and reposing confidence in the PML-N government and said that he will try his best to resolve their problems on top priority basis.
Addressing the meeting Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan Parliamentary Secretary for finance told that government had decided in principal to provide a water treatment plant to Faisalabad. PC-1 of this Rs 100 million project has been prepared for the appointment of consultants to prepare international feasibility.
Responding to a question about privatization of FESCO he said that it is imperative but assured that full protection will be provided to the FESCO employees.
Haji Akram Ansari, Parlimentry Secretary for communication and works and Dr. Nisar Ahmed Jut MNA also addressed the meeting and said that they will try their best to resolve the problems confronted by the business community.
Earlier, Chaudhary Muhammad Nawaz President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the participants of the meeting. He particularly thanked Abid Sher Ali, Rana Muhammad Afzal, Haji Akram Ansari and Dr. Nisar Jut for handling the issue of gas prudently in line with the aspiration of the value added textile sector.
Senior Vice President FCCI Syed Zia Alam Dar Hussain demanded textile minister hailing from Faisalabad to resolve the problems of textile sector. He said that review meeting for GSP-Plus is scheduled to be held very soon and in this connection government must start the provision of combined water treatment plant in Faisalabad to fulfill the environment related compliances.
Rana Sikandar Azam, Chaudhary Muhammad Boota and Aslam Bhalli participated in the question answer session while Mian Javed Iqbal thanked the participants.