KARACHI: Sept 2: President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the ministries of the petroleum, the finance and the water and power to work in unison and make concerted efforts to end electricity and gas loadshedding in the country.

“The government can no longer afford persistent loadshedding as it is adversely affecting the economy,” the president said while presiding over a meeting held at the Bilawal House on Sunday to review the energy crisis and the progress on various measures being taken to overcome the power shortage in the country.

The president directed that he should be regularly updated on the power situation and stressed that the government accorded a high priority to improve the energy situation in the country.

Water and Power Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar briefed the participants in the meeting on the latest power situation in the country.

The minister said that the various measures taken by the government had helped reduce the gap between the power demand and supply.

He said that the power situation was improving and expressed the hope that after the recent rains water level in reservoirs was rising and the power generation situation would further improve.

Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) chairman Shakeel Durrani briefed the participants in the meeting on various hydel energy projects, including the Allai Khwar (Battagram) hydropower project, Jinnah hydropower (Mianwali), Gomal Zam dam (South Waziristan), Satpara dam (Skardu), Duber Khwar project (Kohistan), Jabban hydropower project (Malakand) and Laraib hydropower project, which had a total capacity of 487 megawatts and would be connected with the national grid by March 2013.

The participants in the meeting were informed that the Tarbela dam was likely to be filled with water soon while the Mangla dam had been filled to a level of over 1,180 feet.

They were also briefed on progress made so far in the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha dam and efforts being made to get finances for the project.

Adviser to the prime minister on petroleum Dr Asim Hussain gave a briefing on the availability of gas and fuel for power generation.

Water and Power Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Adviser to PM on petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, secretary general to the president Salman Faruqui, finance secretary Abdul Wajid Rana, secretary for water and power Zafar Mehmood, secretary for petroleum Dr Waqar Masood, Wapda chairman Shakeel Durrani and other senior officials of the relevant departments attended the meeting.