FAISALABAD/LAHORE/MIRPUR - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to curb gas and electricity theft and hoped to end the power crisis during his ongoing tenure as he launched country’s first private hydropower plant on Monday.
The prime minister visited Faisalabad, where he learnt about business community’s problems. He separately chaired a meeting on energy crisis in Lahore and inaugurated a 84 mega watt hydropower project in Mirpur.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the power project, Nawaz Sharif said that loadshedding would decrease considerably in the coming months owing to a number of short projects initiated by the government. He said the projects undertaken to increase electricity production are long term ventures but since Pakistan has abundant water resources, the government would seek to utilise them optimally.
Nawaz said that a number of Chinese investors are working on energy projects in Pakistan, which when completed would help reduce the power crisis. Nawaz assured foreign investors of assistance and cooperation. He added that a one-window operation would be launched to facilitate investors.
One of the biggest issues of the power sector in Pakistan is expensive power generation, and the inauguration of the country’s first private sector hydro IPP by Laraib Energy has paved the way for private sector investment in hydropower projects for producing cheap electricity. As per official estimates, the country has 100,000 megawatts of hydel power generation, of which only 6,500MW has been harnessed so far.
The PM said that besides energy generation, the new Bong Escape Hydropower Project would create economic opportunities for people in Azad Kashmir. This project would replace approximately 135,000 tonnes of oil imports valued in excess of $100 million per annum. It would contribute 540 GWh of green energy annually into the national grid under a 25 year PPA with National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC).
Laraib Energy Ltd, a private company taken over by the Hub Power Company (Hubco) a couple of years ago, commissioned the plant two months ahead of its schedule of 42 months. Interestingly, Hubco was the first to establish a 1,292MW private thermal power plant in Balochistan and the company is now planning to convert it to coal under an agreement with the government to provide cheaper energy to reduce dependence on imported oil.
Keeping the cost factor in mind, PM Nawaz in the meeting at Raiwind in Lahore directed to immediately start coal-based electricity generation projects. Charing the meeting, which reviewed different proposals for producing electricity through coal, he said coal is a cheaper source of power and it would help save billions of rupees spent on furnace oil purchase. He also directed for expediting work on Neelam Jahlum Power Project and promised that the federal government would provide every help to them in this connection.
Nawaz said it was the utmost effort of his government to rid the people of power outages at the earliest, as steering the country out of energy crisis was also necessary to move the wheel of the economy. The meeting was also attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, former Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, former caretaker Minister for Water and Power, Musadduq Malik, Industrialist Mian Mansha and the experts in energy sector.
The related matter of power pilferage was focus of the premier’s visit to Faisalabad, where he along with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited a mill that was involved in annual gas theft of worth Rs0.2 billion. A case was filed against the owner of the mill and all the equipment used for gas supply was seized.
The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) recently started an operation against gas theft and had raided multiple commercial mills and factories. The mill in Faisalabad was also raided as a part of this operation and was fined a total of Rs0.11 billion.
Speaking to the business community, PM Nawaz said that gas theft takes place with the help of people working in the gas companies, adding that his government will punish the perpetrators. About electricity supply, the prime minister said his government has taken the right direction and people would see the difference in coming years. He asked the nation to be patient as it would take at least some years to completely end the loadshedding.
CM Shahbaz reiterated the premier’s stance on gas theft. He directed Faisalabad DCO?to continue the operation, disregarding any pressure. The DCO during a briefing informed that six cases of annual gas theft, worth Rs40 crore, have been detected in Faisalabad.
In the meeting with businessmen, the CM told them that government would ensure that Faisalabad gets 14 hours of gas supply.