ISLAMABAD: In an obvious contrast to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s repeated claims of ending load-shedding by 2018 when the tenure of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was also ending, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) said in its report nothing of the expected was likely to happen.
According to a report released by the country’s power regulator on Friday, it was dubious to end energy crisis by 2018 as most transmission lines and grid system improvement projects were moving significantly behind schedule.
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It said that even of the 4,500 megawatts projects were completed, it would not be possible to prove uninterrupted power supply in the country as sufficient transmission facilities would not be there to effectively absorb it, resulting in its dispersal on unreliable alternate lines.
Financial loss incurred to the government in a year, according to the report, nears about Rs 17 billion.
The report was finalised in November 2015 and went through the consultative process of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) for almost a year before being made public.
Previously, Prime Minister Sharif has claimed on several occasions that load-shedding would be a past narrative by 2018 in Pakistan, expecting all power projects initiated by his government would be completed well within their set deadlines.
