Abid Sher Ali blames previous government for energy crisis
- By Zohaib Kazmi -
- Apr 13, 2014
DIPALPUR: Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali declared previous government responsible for the energy crisis by saying corruption and obsolete agreements made by the earlier government the issue of electricity shortage severe, ARY News reported.
The Minister said Raja Rental earned billion of rupees in terms of kickbacks by buying electricity at Rs. 24/ unit. He said the previous government had damaged the badly system and the current government just fixing the thing up.
While addressing a public gathering following the inauguration of Dipalpur Grid Station Up-gradation Project on Sunday, Abid Sher Ali said 4250 Megawatt (MW) electricity will be added to national grid by June this year.
“About 2000 megawatts electricity would be added to national grid this year with the completion of Guddu Thermal, Nandipur and Dera Murad Jamali power projects”, he added.
Sher Ali further informed PMLN’s government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China to invest over $30 dollars in Pakistan's energy sector.
According to the Minister, WAPDA has been advised to complete 747 MW Guddu Thermal Power Project, 425-525 MW Nandipur power project at Gujranwala and 410 MW power project at Dera Murad Jamali at earliest.
He announced to relief to farmers by providing electricity on cheaper rates.
“Farmers will get electricity at flat rate of Rs. 10.34/ unit instead of Rs. 14 and the duration od load shedding would not exceed more than 8 hours”, he added.