ISLAMABAD Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf claimed that by December 2009 there would be no load-shedding and by that time they would be in a position to bridge the gap between the power supply and demand. The Minister while talking to media requested the masses of Pakistan to cooperate in eliminating the power crisis from the country by avoiding unnecessary use of electricity in the offices, commercial centres and houses. He further said that voluntarily switching off 50 per cent lights by traders in their shops would be considered as a help to the government in the present circumstances. A proposal was also under consideration to move the clocks forward by one hour to ensure maximum use of daylight, the Minister said while answering a question. The Ministry had also advised the Distribution Companies (Discos) to reduce line losses up to the maximum possible level that would help in saving energy, he said. The Minister said that he had directed PEPCO and PPIB to timely complete fast track and rental power projects to end the load-shedding from the country by December 2009. And he had asked them to monitor the progress and submit update of the projects to him on a weekly basis. A meeting to review the progress of water and power sector projects was also held here on Monday. Secretary, Adviser and Additional Secretary of the Ministry, Chairman WAPDA, CEO, AEDB, MD, NPCC and other senior officials of the Ministry participated in the meeting. As per the press release issued by the Ministry, the Minister had directed that there should not be any shutdown of power stations in the summer due to maintenance and minor faults. He also asked IPPs to improve their oil stocks and generate energy to the maximum level during the season. The meeting noted that there was no unscheduled and forced load-shedding and the shortfall as of today was less than 1845 MW as compared to 2113 MW same day last year. The meeting decided to promote replacement of high consuming power equipments, currently being used in tube wells with new and efficient ones for better efficiency and less consumption of electricity. The Minister also directed the PEPCO to educate the masses on demand side management programme through media. Earlier in the meeting, PEPCO and PPIB informed that 800 MW would be injected in the system by June this year and overall about 4000 MW by December 2009. Due to efforts of the government, a new power project of 165 MW by Attock Gen is being inaugurated on Tuesday (today). Chairman WAPDA and CEO AEDB also briefed the meeting on the progress of the projects being executed by them.