February 26, 2007	Monday	Safar 8, 1428

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, Feb 25: President Pervez Musharraf has convened a meeting on Tuesday to take stock of "short-term energy shortfalls" and listen to various viewpoints as to why some investors of wind and thermal power projects were asking for higher tariffs.

Informed sources told Dawn on Sunday that the president would also review the status report of projects prepared by the relevant agencies to meet immediate energy shortage which is expected to reach 2,000mw during high summer.

The meeting will be attended by ministers and officials of water and power and petroleum ministries and heads of Wapda, Alternate Energy Development Board, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and some wind-power producers.

The sources said that President Musharraf would also be briefed about the commissioning of second-hand imported power projects on rent from the United States, which was likely to be completed before peak summer to produce about 300mw of electricity.

While the issue of IPPs arrears would also come under discussion, the meeting would deliberate on why the tariffs approved and announced by Nepra for wind and thermal projects were being revised again and again.

The government anticipates that the energy crisis would worsen in the next two years because of a 50 per cent increase in demand.

The power shortage, which has been estimated to remain in the range of 1,000-2,000mw during the current year, is likely to cross 3,000mw next year. It is expected to increase to about 5,300mw by 2010.

Pakistan's total energy requirement is expected to be around 80 million tons of oil equivalents (MTOE) in 2010, up by about 50 per cent from the current year's 54 MTOE.