KARACHI: Caretaker Federal Minister for Energy, Power and Petroleum Mohammed Ali has said that discussions were underway with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide relief to the people.
While addressing a press conference along with the Sindh Governor Mohammed Kamran Khan Tessori after a meeting with the members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) at the Governor House here, he said that the discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been continuing for ten days to provide relief to the people in electricity bills.
He said that they were trying to decrease the bills of electricity while dealing with the agreements signed during the period of the last 20 years. The minister said that the caretaker prime minister was trying to provide relief to the people.
Replying to a question on inflated bills of electricity, he said that the bills of August were inflated due to the increasing value of the dollar. Replying to another question about the crackdown only on poor people, he said that the crackdown was continued against electricity theft without any discrimination. The action had been taken against electricity and gas theft, he added.
The minister said the details of FIR regarding electricity theft were being uploaded on the Energy Ministry’s social media platforms. He said that they had launched a crackdown on power, gas theft and smuggling. He said that today he had a detailed discussion with the businessmen of Karachi.
He further said that the federal government was working to provide gas to the industries in the winter. He said that there would be no change in the solar net metering rate. The minister said that the federal government was going to sign an agreement with K-Electric for 1000mw to meet the shortage of electricity in the city.
Earlier, the Sindh governor said that the country was facing Energy and many other crises. He said that the business community was also worried. The Governor said we all had to support the economy of the country. The country was stranded in the net of the IMF, he added. He hoped for 20 to 25 million dollars in investment in the country in the days to come, adding the value of the dollar would further decrease during the next few days.
