ISLAMABAD, June 27: President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday expressed concern over slow movement in the setting up of power projects as major power shortfalls are expected in the country.

The two leaders were speaking at a meeting which reviewed progress on the establishment of power projects in the country.

A participant said the two leaders were flabbergasted to learn that no addition had taken place in the power generation capacity in 10 years and massive additions were required to meet growing domestic and industrial needs of fast-expanding economy.

“Power shortage is going to choke the economic growth,” a participant told the meeting.

The president was annoyed with everybody and nobody in the power sector was an exception, including the minister and secretary, Wapda chairman and PPIB managing-director.

President Musharraf directed the officials concerned to draw a roadmap in accordance with energy requirements and said set timelines be followed in letter and spirit for completion of power projects to ensure that the country met targets in terms of smooth supply of energy to all sectors.

“If we do not move fast on establishing power projects to meet the ever-growing demands of energy, there is a likelihood that in next few years, the country will face power shortages, which is not acceptable,” he said.

The president said he would regularly review progress in that respect and stressed bridging the gap between policy formulation and implementation.

“It is the responsibility of all concerned to ensure better coordination among the concerned departments and stake-holders to avoid unnecessary delays.”

The prime minister said there was need to further streamline the existing mechanism for resolving issues related to the setting up of power projects.

Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi briefed the two leaders about the power projects being negotiated and said the ministry was striving to remove bottlenecks in the setting up of the projects.

He said some subordinate departments and agencies were bypassing the ministry in policy issues and it was causing administrative problems and resulting in project delays and duplication of work.