20 January 2005	Thursday	09 Zilhaj 1425

LAHORE, Jan 19: Wapda chairman Tariq Hamid denied on Wednesday that there was any shortage of power or load shedding in the country. He told Dawn that the authority was able to manage load of more than 10,000 megawatts through increase of water releases from Tarbela dam.

When supply of around 3,500 cusecs from Mangla dam stopped, the Indus River System Authority, on the intervention of ministry of water and power, agreed to increase supplies from Tarbela dam; it went up from 8,500 cusecs to 12,000 cusecs.

The additional 3,500 cusecs from Tarbela were doubly beneficial because the authority could use the same water twice; once at the Tarbela dam and then at Ghazi Barotha Hydle Project.

Substantiating his claim with Tuesday's demand and supply figure, he said Wapda was able to balance both with around 4,200mw from the independent power producers (IPPs), 3,300mw from its own thermal units and another 2,100mw from hydle units.

In all, Wapda was able to meet national demand, he added. About recent debacle of natural gas supplies, the chairman insisted that Wapda met the demand by manoeuvring additional supply from Tarbela.