FAISALABAD, April 20: A new power plant having a capacity of 450 megawatts will soon be installed in the district to help avert power outages.

Faisalabad Electricity Supply Company (Fesco) chief executive Ahmed Saeed said this while talking to representatives of industrial units here on Friday.

Sources privy to the meeting said that industrialists gave vent to their disquiet over unscheduled load shedding.

They also asked the authorities concerned to set a timetable for power suspension because the industry, in most of the cases, had to suffer an irreparable loss. Besides a heavy monetary loss, they said the persistent unscheduled load shedding might leave countless people jobless.

The Fesco chief, sources said, apprised visitors of the arrangements being made by the company and urged them to follow the schedule of staggering holidays prepared with the consultation of industrialists.

He said the Fesco had been facing problems because most of industrialists were defying the schedule.

Mr Saeed said that Fesco was also well aware about the power crisis and problems faced by industrialists as a result.

He said the government’s plan to install a power plant with public-private partnership near steam power station would help overcome the energy crisis in future.

In addition, he said the government was also considering setting up a power plant of 500 megawatts to fulfill the need of the M-3 Industrial Estate.

About the purchase of surplus electricity from the private sector, he said that Fesco had reached an agreement with the two companies.

Putting forward various suggestions to overcome the power crisis, industrialists said that Fesco should make agreements with private entrepreneurs for the purchase of electricity.

Those who met the Fesco chief executive include, All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association regional chairman Mian Aftab Ahmed, secretary Muhammad Ashraf, All Pakistan Sizing Industry Association chairman Shafiq Ahmed, Shahid Ahmed and Amjed Saeed.