Gilani all praise for energy team

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani was all praise for excellent work on part of the ministries of Water and Power, Finance, Petroleum, Wapda and other relevant quarters for proper power management which has curtailed loadshedding. Mr Gilani expressed these views during a briefing by the Ministry of Water and Power on Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project here Monday at the PMs House which was attended by the Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Finance Secretary, Ministry of Water and Power Secretary, Economic Affairs Division Secretary and other senior officials of the relevant ministries. He said the timely action of the ministries had frustrated the designs of the political opponents who were planning to cash on the possible unrest due to shortage of energy in the season. The Prime Minister further directed the ministries to take measures well in advance to minimize the impact of the canal closures by bridging the possible power gap by increasing the Thermal Power Generation. The PM said government has added 3500 MW in the National Grid during its tenure, so far, which was an impressive performance by any stretch of imagination. He said the democratic government had also provided electricity to thousands of villages in the country during the period. In view of the very good response from the private sector in the power sector as highlighted by WAPDA Chairman, the PM approved the one-window operation in order to facilitate the potential investors who were interested to invest in Pakistan due to bright prospects in this sector. He also urged upon the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Water and Power to project the governments successful efforts in undertaking the short-, medium- and the long-term projects to overcome the energy shortage in the country. The credit should be earned by showcasing the performance in this sector, the PM said. He said that credit goes to the democratic government for launching work on the Diamir Bhash Dam, which was approved by the Council of Common Interests through a consensus decision, unlike the Kala Bagh Dam, which fell victim to political controversies. The Prime Minister expressed the resolve of his govt to take up decisions in the successive cabinet meetings about the Public Sectors Enterprises which had been making big hole in the pocket of public exchequer for the last many years. The matter of circular debt will be taken upfront so that people are not confronted with the unscheduled load-shedding. He said important and immediate decisions would be taken regarding the LNG to overcome the shortage of electricity in the country because the entire import of LNG would be used for producing 2200 MW electricity.