January 04, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 24, 1428

PESHAWAR, Jan 3: Administration of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) on Thursday said power shutdowns would continue for more than two months because the utility was facing a shortage of 1,000 megawatts.

The situation might be eased if the Hubco unit was repaired immediately and the power generating units in the Frontier province were supplied with furnace oil according to their requirements.

The utility said it was receiving 1,300MW from the national grid while the total demand in the province stood at 2,300MW. Therefore, the company was compelled to carry out load management.

The company urged consumers to cooperate with it during the difficult phase which would continue for several more weeks, Pesco chief Brig Sakhi Marjan told media personnel at a briefing.

Denying claims that the incidence of loadshedding in the NWFP was higher than other provinces, Pesco chief said the power utility was resorting to load management of 756MW which was comparable to that of the Lahore power utility. The Multan power utility was sharing 576MW to overcome the 3,000MW shortage at the national level.

Enumerating the major causes of breakdown, he said it was mainly because of the discontinuation of furnace oil supply to power generating units, decrease in water level in the Tarbela Dam and the damage suffered by the Hubco power generating unit which was supplying 1,200MW to the national grid.

The Pesco, he said, was taking steps to fulfill its power requirement through alternative resources, for which a textile mill in the province had been requested to provide 15MW while another industrial unit, which produced 15MW of electricity from furnace oil, had been also asked to cooperate with Pesco.

He said that Pesco had to switch off power from various feeders to share the load management. Therefore, every feeder of the province would be shut off after every three hours.

About the Malakand 3 hydroelectric project, the Pesco chief said the project would take another five or six months to produce electricity, helping in overcoming power demand in the province.

“We are awaiting for the project to come on line, but it has been delayed while the completion of the Pehore power project will also help overcome the power shortage,” he said.

About the security of Pesco installations, he said that he had contacted the home secretary and informed him about the current situation and would also meet the chief minister to seek help to protect Pesco installations across the province.

“I urge the people to cooperate with Pesco. Damaging installations will not help resolve the problem,” he said.—PPI