ISLAMABAD, April 23: The government on Wednesday sounded both dim and bright hopes to overcome power cuts blamed on the neglect of the previous regime, telling the National Assembly some relief would come immediately though it would take no less than three years to cure the torment that has played havoc with people’s lives, industry and agriculture.

Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf also announced a decision to call an international conference in Islamabad soon to seek foreign investment to exploit the vast Thar coal reserves in Sindh for power generation.

Winding up a prolonged debate on the water and power crisis, he said the short- and long-term planning already initiated after Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s coalition government took office at the end of last month would “bring the situation under control within a year or a year and a half” and added: “But after three years, loadshedding in Pakistan will be completely eliminated.”

The government estimates the country’s hydroelectric and thermal power houses are generating only about 12,000 megawatts compared to 15,000MW required, leaving a gap of about 3,000MW.

Mr Ashraf said the situation would not change much during the coming peak consumption summer months because the hydel generation also increased then with the availability of more river waters from melting snow on the mountains.

About Prime Minister Gilani’s call in a March 29 speech to save at least 500MW to help ease power cuts, the minister said 380MW had been added to the system by updating some of the idle capacity of the existing plants while a schedule had been prepared for month-wise additions.

He said he was also confident the government would overshoot the prime minister’s target to set up new units to generate 2,200MW within a year.

The minister said that while up to three years were need to materialise any hydroelectric plant even on a fast-track basis, the government would seek to increase availability in the system through ‘rentals’ from generation by private industry and encourage the private sector to exploit alternative sources such as solar and wind energy.

After several members from both sides of the house called for using the country’s coal reserves during four days of the staggered debate, particularly those of Thar desert, Mr Ashraf said the government had decided on an emergency basis to call an international conference to which potential investors for coal-fired plants would be invited from Europe, America, China and other regions.In a reference to opposition and support voiced for the controversial Kalabagh dam project during the debate, the minister assured the house that the government would not carry out any project “at the cost of the federation” and said the alternative upstream Diamer-Bhasha dam on the river Indus would store more water and produce more electricity than Kalabagh and would also take less time to complete.

He cited various other hydel projects in the pipeline and said they could generate 17,778MW.

The minister said the government had, on an emergency basis, arranged the import of 10 million energy savers to be supplied free of cost to institutions like charities and schools and to be sold to consumers on credit to be adjusted in their monthly bills.

He also announced plans to associate assembly members in planning loadshedding in their areas.