ISLAMABAD, Nov 1: The Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) claimed on Saturday that loadshedding had come to an end in cities.

Tahir Basharat Cheema, the Pepco director-general, told a television channel that a shortfall of 1000MW would be “handled under a load management programme”.

The federal minister for water and power had set up a “power system operation committee” last week to suggest measures to bring down the shortfall of 5,000MW to “manageable limits”.

“Availability of gas sufficient to feed power generating units, an increase in water level in reservoirs and recommissioning of power units lying idle because of annual maintenance had enabled Pepco to end load-shedding in urban areas,” Mr Cheema claimed.

In reply to a question, he said there would be an annual canal closure for desilting from Dec 20 to Jan 20, disrupting hydropower production.—APP