ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali told the National Assembly has that as many as 9,000 mega watt (MW) more electricity would be added to the national grid system by March 2018 to end power loadshedding in the country.
Responding to various questions during Question Hour, the minister said the government has launched several power projects to enhance generation and cope with menace of load-shedding.
To a question, he said electricity generation would be increased to 18,000 MW by the end of this year. In order to bridge the existing demand supply gap to generate affordable electricity, the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) under the auspices of Ministry of Water and Power, has initiated several Coal/Hydro and R-LNG based power projects with cumulative capacity of 12,620 MW at various locations in the country, during the last two years.
The minister said new transmission lines were also being laid besides upgrading the existing system. The lengthy transmission lines were also being bifurcated to reduce line losses, he added.
To a question, Abid Sher Ali said that seventy per cent land for Diamer Bhasha dam has already been acquired. The Secretary Gilgit-Baltistan was tasked to complete 100 per cent land acquisition for this mega project, he added. He said government has also released Rs 45 billion rupees for land acquisition.
Abid said the government was also committed to start work on this mega project from its own resources in case no foreign donor agency was found to finance it. He said PC-I of Diamer Bhasha Dam Project was approved by ECNEC on August 20, 2009 at a total cost of Rs. 894,257.00 million including land acquisition and re-settlement through PSDP funding.
