March 30, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1429

ISLAMABAD, March 29: The new government intends to produce 2,200 megawatts of electricity by establishing some new units this year in a bid to reduce load-shedding across the country.

The plan was announced by Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani in a speech in the National Assembly on Saturday.

The prime minister said that the aim of the plan was to bring down the duration of unprecedented loadshedding in the country, which was expected to go up to 4000 MW during the summer season.

Mr Gilani said that the PPP-led coalition government “will take the masses out of darkness by installing new power generation plants.”

All major cities of the country have been witnessing five to seven hours unannounced load-shedding daily while small cities, towns and villages have been facing up to 12-hour loadshedding every day.

He said that power shortage was one of the major issues being faced by the new government.

He said the government would also launch a countrywide power-saving campaign under which 500MW of electricity would be saved. The Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), he said, had also been directed to make sure the availability of 10 million energy saver bulbs across the country.