LAHORE: The government has increased its national power transmission capacity to 16,300MW and plans to take it up to 21,000MW by the end of next year, claims Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday after a meeting with managing director of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), he said the government had increased this capacity from 13,750MW to 16,300MW in the last two years.

Besides laying a number of power transmission lines, one 500Kv and nine 220Kv grid stations had been constructed to improve flow of power transmission. These steps would also take care of low voltage and other related problems following the up-gradation of transmission and distribution system by the end of 2016, he said.

Know more: More electricity, less loadshedding promised

Apart from improving the transmission system, the PML-N government was also working on contingency measures to avoid cascading effects, which led to national breakdown early this year.

Minister says steps being taken to resolve low voltage issue

About persistent loadshedding in Peshawer Valley (Swat, Mardan, Swabi), he blamed inability of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to provide lands for construction of grid station in those areas and termed it main reason for supply and distribution problems in the area. “Of late, the KP government has allocated land and one 500Kv grid station will be constructed in the area by the end of 2016, which will take care of the problem to a large extent.”

The minister also took the occasion to deny any forced loadshedding in the country.

He said about 80 per cent of urban and rural areas were exempted from loadshedding during Sehr and Iftar.

Talking about high loss localities, the minister particularly mentioned some areas of the Sukkur Electric Supply Company (Sepco). “Losses on 320 feeders range between 60 and 100pc and on 110 feeders show 40 to 45pc deficit. This is totally unbearable as these losses alone translate into Rs1 billion a month.”

He also claimed that the Sindh government was unable or unwilling to clear its dues worth Rs32 billion, which exclude a reconciled amount of Rs21 billion. “Despite such a huge write off, the provincial government has paid only Rs2.5 billion. This kind of default saps the sector and its ability to run smoothly.”

Abid Sher Ali insisted that power availability in the system had already showed a significant improvement and reiterated that loadshedding would end by 2017. “There is only 6-8 hours loadshedding in the country now.”

Referring to delay in laying transmission line linking Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project with national grid, he said, it would be completed in June 2016.

A company had taken this issue to the court which led to delay in execution of the project, he said.

He expressed resentment over the rising cost of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project, saying his government would not tolerate such practices in future.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2015

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