LAHORE: Minister of State for Power Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali has affirmed the present government will shut down all expensive oil-based power plants (IPPs) to ensure availability of cheaper energy for consumers.
He also apprised that the previous government did not pay heed on rehabilitation and maintenance of old power plants which caused several system constraints inflicting heavy losses. However, the government has carried out and completed various projects during last four years. He said that the Ministry of Power identified system constraints, communicated targets to all the departments concerned to initiate upgradation of transmission system on war footing. He directed the heads of power sector entities to complete their ongoing projects well before time.
He was chairing a meeting on power system constraints held at Wapda House Lahore. NTDC deputy managing director, CEOs of all distribution companies (Discos), Pepco GM (R&CO) and other senior officials of the Power Division attended the meeting. Highlighting the performance of present government in power sector, the minister lauded the unending efforts of all concerned quarters to overcome loadshedding and mentioned that at present surplus electricity is available in the system. However, due to certain system constraints and line losses, loadshedding is being observed at Discos level.
