ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir has said that it is not a crisis of power generation capacity but a crisis of fuel.
Addressing a press conference with Minister of State Hashim Notizai in Islamabad, Khurram Dastgir said that 5,739 MW of electricity was not being generated due to unavailability of fuel, 2156 MW was not being generated due to technical issues, for next 10 days. Load shedding will be reduced.
He said that due to extreme heat, additional demand of two to three thousand megawatts has been created. There are two reasons for load shedding. Due to non-availability of fuel, capacity of 5739 megawatts has been cut off. While the 2156 MW power shortage may be due to technical glitches, efforts are being made to ensure that the situation does not worsen during the Eid days.
He said that supply of furnace oil is expected to be ensured from May 2 and power situation is expected to improve in next 10 days. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has the entire responsibility, the plants should be repaired in winter.
Khurram Dastgir said that the Port Qasim plant will start functioning from the day after tomorrow, additional demand has been created due to heat, hydropower plants are being gradually restored, full responsibility for power crisis lies on the former government. In fact, there is a crisis not because of production capacity but because of the unavailability of fuel.
Khurram Dastgir said that the Prime Minister was given an estimate of 20,000 MW in the briefing and we are working on an estimate of 23,000 MW. Demand has increased due to extreme heat in many areas.
The Federal Minister said that due to the criminal negligence of the former government, the plants have been shut down since December 13, 2021. The 760 MW plants of RLNG have been shut down since the time of the previous government. If they come back, they are facing power crisis. All discos have been directed to ensure availability of additional trolley transformers.
He further said that 107 billion would be required till May 25 and 85 billion by June 1 to increase power generation. At the time of overthrow of PML-N government, revolving loans were Rs. Reviewing
