ISLAMABAD, June 8: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali Tuesday presided over a high level meeting for rationalization of electricity tariffs and directed necessary measures to provide relief to consumers.

The prime minister at a meeting with Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz reviewed rationalization of the electricity tariff structure for Water and Power Development Authority and Karachi electric Supply Corporation.

The prime minister directed diversification of energy resources for production of electricity and said this step would help lower the tariff and provide relief to the consumers.

He said the lower power tariff would boost agricultural and industrial sectors and increase the GDP. Mr Jamali said water and power sectors were key to economic development and said next year the Public Sector Development Programme would focus on infrastructure development for hydropower development projects.

Briefing the prime minister, Mr Aftab Sherpao said Power Policy 2002 focused on utilization of indigenous energy resources and said existing power plants were being converted into gas-fired plants to reduce power tariff.

He said new power plants should be located near gas fields to ensure uninterrupted and proper supply of gas to to the power plants. He said 1000 MW of hydropower shall be added to the national grid by 2007.

Mr Sherpao said far-flung areas of the country could not be electrified from the national grid and Wapda was working on a plan to provide electricity through community participation basis.

In Northern Areas where hydropower potential was available, he said, communities shall run such projects while in Balochistan and southern regions of the country, a network of alternative energy resources such as coal, wind and solar energy shall be used. -APP