ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: President Asif Ali Zardari directed the ministry of water and power on Saturday to take steps on a war footing to end power shortage and eliminate loadshedding.

During a presentation given by the ministry on “International Competitive Bidding for New Independent Power Producers and Rental Power Projects on Fast Track”, he said that tackling the power and energy issue was critical to economic development.

The president asked the ministry and the Planning Commission to study models of other countries to attract international investment in the energy sector.

He said setting up of dedicated power plants for specialised sectors like industrial units should also be considered.

Mr Zardari showed keen interest in measures taken for resolving the power crisis in Karachi and asked that required steps be taken expeditiously.

He said that he would chair another meeting on power situation in Karachi.

The meeting also discussed progress made and issues involved in raising of Mangla dam and the Trabela dam de-silting.

The Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervez Ashraf, who led the team that gave the presentation, talked about steps taken so far to end loadshedding by the end of next year.

The meeting was informed that the Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) had completed the bidding process in only 117 days after the cabinet decision of May 14 to invite bids for 1,000 MW IPPs and 500 MW rental projects. As a result of encouraging response, 42 requests for proposals had been issued to the interested sponsors and investors.

According to the presentation, 12 bids were received within the deadline and their evaluation report was submitted to the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet on Sept 10.

The ECC approved three IPPs of 929 MW and two rental projects of 437 MW. Then Nepra was advised to approve tariff of these projects in accordance with the guidelines for determination of tariff for IPPs.

The Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Salman Farooqi, Water and Power Secretary Ismail Qureshi, Wapda Chairman Shakeel Durrani, Nepra Chairman Khalid Saeed, KESC Chief Executive Officer Navid Ismail, Pepco Managing Director Fazal Ahmad Khan and PPIB Managing Director Fayyaz Ellahi also attended the meeting.

DISPARITY: After a meeting with Federal Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, President Zardari directed the ministry to come up with concrete and specific proposals to bridge the urban-rural disparity.