KARACHI, June 30: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday took serious notice of frequent power breakdowns in Karachi and sought a report on the performance of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) within a week.

He said that the report should also mention how the power utility planned to bridge the gap between supply and demand.

The prime minister, who was presiding over a meeting here at the Governor’s House, asked the Water and Power Development Authority and the ministry of water and power to improve coordination with the KESC to ease the power crisis.

According to the Press Information Department, the prime minister asked Federal Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi to approach the management of the KESC and convene a meeting in Islamabad to discuss the power utilitiy’s pre-auction commitments to be followed by action.

Mr Aziz called for immediate steps to improve the situation when he was informed that the city’s power crisis was worse this year than last year.

The prime minister also asked the KESC to accelerate work on its transformers and improvement of the distribution network.

Highlighting the KESC’s poor performance, federal minister Babar Khan Ghauri told the prime minister that if the situation continued, the people of Karachi might be compelled to take over the KESC’s management.

Provincial Labour Minister Mohammad Adil Siddiqui said that the KESC’s management had not fulfilled the promises made at the time of privatisation.

The meeting was attended by Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, senior KESC officials, including its CEO Lt-Gen (retd) Syed Amjad Ali.

Mr Aziz called on PML-F chief Pir Pagara at the Kingri House.

The meeting lasted more than half an hour. During the first half of the meeting, Governor Ishratul Ibad and Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim were also present.

When the prime minister came out of the Kingri House, it started raining, forcing him to head straight to the Governor’s House without meeting the press.