ISLAMABAD, March 18: The federal government announced on Tuesday that electricity supply to Karachi would be increased from 200MW to 300MW till the end of this month to help the city overcome an acute electricity shortage.

The additional electricity will be supplied by the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) and the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) to the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC).

The decision was taken at a meeting held here under the chairmanship of caretaker Minister for Water and Power Tariq Hamid. The meeting was attended by secretary water and power, additional secretary finance and the managing directors of Pepco and KESC.

The meeting decided that the additional supply would continue till March 31 when KESC’s own plant would come into operation. The meeting was informed that additional electricity would be supplied to Karachi in spite of a gap of over 2000MW between supply and demand in the NTDC system.

Karachi suffered major power breakdown recently after NTDC, a subsidiary of Pepco, disconnected supplies to the KESC over outstanding dues.

The KESC is on a notice from Pepco to pay Rs3 billion by April 1 against the outstanding amount of Rs37.5 billion.

According to an official announcement, the meeting decided that the KESC would make all payments directly to Pepco.

The ministry of finance assured the meeting of providing assistance in the recovery and adjustment of dues including general sales tax (GST) refunds from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

Meanwhile, caretaker Prime Minister Muhammedmian Somroo has directed chairman of the Prime Minister Inspection Commission and National Disaster Management Authority, Lt-Gen (retd) Farooq Ahmad Khan, to hold meetings with all stake-holders in Karachi so that the government could take required corrective measures for overcoming the electricity shortage in the city.

An official announcement said Gen Khan had been asked to take a close look at the issue. He will hold meetings with the representatives of the KESC, Wapda and business community.