ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: The looming power shortfall is unlikely to ease out in near future as the proposed expansion programme has fallen behind schedule.

Official sources told Dawn on Saturday that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had directed the authorities concerned to firm up their new strategy to deal with the growing power problems being faced by domestic and industrial consumers.

The president was informed at a recent meeting that the power demand projection based on medium growth rate showed an increase from 15,000 MW in 2006 to about 21,500 MW in the 2010 year.And this situation has necessitated the need of power planning for transmission and distribution system, expansion, upgradation and rehabilitation of substations.

In the short term, sources said, a project envisaging the construction of 500KV substation in Rahim Yar Khan, 220 KV substation in Gujrat and Chistian and 200 KV (gas insulated switchgear) substation in Lahore along with associated transmission lines and necessary civil and ancillary works has been approved by the government to meet power shortages to some extent.

The main objective of the project is the enhancement in the capacity of the transmission system along with associated transmission lines.

The ministry of finance has agreed to extend Rs1.2 billion special funding for the project.

The electricity demand is expected to increase progressively till 2015. It is estimated that 2,000 MW additional capacity would be required to meet the power crises across Pakistan.

The government is looking for various options, including enhancement in the capacity by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) transmission system.

The proposed project is expected to provide relief to the existing overloaded substations and its associated lines.

It will also improve the overall power system efficiency and stability to deliver adequate and quality power to consumers.

Sources said that the president had been informed that eight small and medium power projects were under different stages of implementation with a total capacity of about 755 MW and were expected to be completed by 2010.

The feasibility studies of Diamer/Basha, Dasu, Bunji and Kohala hydropower projects are also in hand.

In addition, the 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project has also been approved for implementation in the public sector.

At the same time, a number of schemes of new transmission lines and grid stations were also under construction to provide relief to existing overloaded NTDC’s system, besides electrification of villages in the far-flung areas of the country.

Sources said that a plan had been developed to meet the growing demand of power by exploitation of indigenous resources which included hydro, coal, natural gas and nuclear.It is planned to added about 1,260MW from hydel generation, 880MW from alternative energy, 4,860MW from gas, 900MW from coal, 160MW from oil and 325MW from nuclear in the system by the year 2010.

And to meet the existing power crisis, imported coal-based power project is one of the suitable options.

For this purpose 1,000-1,200MW coal based power generation projects is proposed to be undertaken in Karachi to meet the increasing demand of the country.

Various transmission lines and grids of EHV and STG level are also planned in the system.