ISLAMABAD, Sep 15 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Thursday called for effective future planning and timely execution of ongoing power generation projects in the country.
The Prime Minister said besides ensuring affordable and sufficient electricity for the people, arrangements need to be made for the future power needs of the country in view of increased economic growth and industrial activity.
Chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy here at the PM House, the Prime Minister said his government would fulfil its commitment to the nation for eliminating load-shedding before the end of its tenure.
“Any delay must be analysed and appropriate measures be taken to meet the timelines,” the Prime Minister said.
Chairman WAPDA Lt. General (Retd.) Muzammil Hussain briefed the meeting on the status of 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHPP) and 3478 MW Tarbela-IV Extension.
The Chairman apprised the meeting that during his recent visit to the sites, a mechanism has been finalised to complete the project on schedule.
He said the first unit of NJHPP would be commissioned in February 2018, while remaining units would be functional before the summer of 2018.
Briefing the meeting on Tarbela-IV, Chairman WAPDA said that the first unit of Tarbela-IV would be ready for inauguration by the Prime Minister on August 14, 2017.
Appreciating performance of Chairman WAPDA, the Prime Minister expressed satisfaction over the progress on NJHPP as well as Tarbela-IV. The Prime Minister called for ensuring utmost transparency while executing the Hydropower projects.
Secretary Water and Power briefed the meeting on the benchmarks of the ongoing power projects. These include clean energy projects, coal fired power plants and LNG power plants, which he said would add electricity to the national grid during the year 2017 and before March 2018.
The meeting was informed that nine power projects of over 1000 MW including 330 MW (Wind) and 680 MW (Nuclear) were ready for inauguration by the Prime Minister. It was further informed that the Thar – Matiari and Port Qasim-Matiari Transmission Line projects were also ready for ground-breaking by the Prime Minister.
The meeting was informed that construction schedule of LNG power plants was on track and LNG based power plant at Bhikki would be completed well ahead of time.
Secretary Water and Power gave a comprehensive analysis of demand and supply of electricity during the summer of 2018 and informed that approximately 3000 MW power generation would be surplus by May 2018.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Information Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Minister for Planning, Development & Reform Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, SAPM Tariq Fatemi and other senior government officials.
APP/Hamza/mka/ VNS Islamabad
