ISLAMABAD, Aug 1: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) plans to install two power plants of 780 megawatts in Karachi to meet a shortfall of 1,300-1,400 megawatts against the overall demand.

This was stated by the KESC chief executive officer while briefing members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Water and Power about the power crisis in Karachi.

The committee met here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of MNA Malik Ghulam Murtaza Maitla.

The CEO informed the committee that contracts had already been awarded for the installation of the plants, which would hopefully be commissioned during the next two years.

Regarding the ongoing load-shedding in the city, the CEO said it had to be applied to meet the shortfall up to 1,400 megawatts. He also briefed the committee about the KESC’s power generation and distribution system.

The meeting was held to discuss the load-shedding in Karachi, a Wapda proposal for increasing power tariff and the destruction of Wapda installations by the recent cyclone that hit Sindh and Balochistan.

The Wapda chairman told the meeting that the authority had been subsidizing the tariff approved by Nepra thereby affording a financial burden of Rs48 billion over the year 2005-06. He said that Nepra determined 33 per cent increase (DISCOs-wise) from February 23, 2007 but the government allowed only 10 per cent increase. The tariff subsidy thus worked out stood at Rs54 billion for 2006-07.

He maintained that due to a phenomenal increase in the oil and gas rates, the proposal for an increase in power tariff would be forwarded to Nepra after August, 2007. The committee, however, directed that electricity rate should not be increased.

Member (Power) Wapda and the Hyderabad Electric Supply Corporation (Hesco) representative briefed the committee about destruction of Wapda infrastructure in Sindh and Balochistan and the progress made towards its rehabilitation. They stated that the Hesco and Quetta Electric Supply Corporation (Qesco) had sustained Rs43.312 million and Rs114.952 million losses, respectively in the natural calamity. They told the committee that the damage had since been repaired.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Syed Mohammad Asghar Shah, Mohammad Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel, Chaudhry Mehdi Hassan Bhatti, Dewan Syed Jaffar Hussain Bokhari, Mohammad Pervez Qureshi, Maulana Mohammad Qasim, Mufti Ibrar Sultan and Ghalib Hussain Domki.—APP