KARACHI - The condition of loadshedding persisted in the City during the winter season. This situation is enough to understand the state of affairs in the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) during summer. The KESC and the CDGK have announced 2009 as the Energy Conservation Year for Karachi. This was announced jointly by City Nazim, Mustafa Kamal and CEO KESC, Naveed Ismail. "How can we conserve energy if it is not available to us? First the company should make electricity available to its consumers than the KESC would be in condition to ask for its conservation," said a citizen when asked for the comments regarding this announcement. It is worth noting that the project of Rs17 billion which is for 8 grid stations has been started which was pending for the last few years. The previous management has signed the project that is now being implemented. The delay for this project could be linked to the fragile financial condition of the company. By adding this grid station to the power system, new connections would be supplied to the public. The new management had halted new connection supply after their takeover of the KESC. Ismail said that it was the best time for the KESC to seek support from the citizens of Karachi. "From our performance of the past five months, we have proven our commitment to the City and the company and we will continue to do so. Energy Conservation is the best solution to meet the escalating needs of our future. We are aiming at conserving 200MWs for Karachi in the next 2 years. We will need every citizen of Karachi to join hands with us in this cause," he added. It is worth mentioning that the City's population is increasing day by day and this will automatically increase the electricity consumption. For the last few years no investment has been made in the company's generation sector. This has largely affected the financial and generation condition of the KESC. After the period of 20 years, this year 450MWs will be added to the generation system of KESC, while 1,000MWs will be added to the system in the coming 3 years. KESC has increased 25MWs of electricity to its generation system in the first week of February and 25 more will be supplied to the system by February end. To provide cheaper electricity to the metropolitan and to increase its power production, the company will be launching coal-based power production. "We have faced 3 to 4 hours of loadshedding during winter than how come it will be solved by summer this year? If some relief is supplied to the general public regarding the power supply than it would be easy for the public to conserve the electricity. To help to bring the company on the right track," said another citizen. Meanwhile, the City has the total demand of 1,700MWs and the shortfall of electricity is about 150MWs. All the areas of the City are facing 2 to 3 hours of loadshedding.