Renewable energy policy under the anvil, says Omar Ayub

ISLAMABAD: Power Minister Omar Ayub on Wednesday told the National Assembly that renewable energy policy has been under the anvil to exploit the potential of this source of clean energy, the state radio reported.

During the question hour in the lower house, Omar Ayub Khan told the house that the policy will be announced by March next year. Several technical studies are also underway to increase the integration of wind and solar energy in the national grid, he said.

Twenty-one power projects based on Thar coal and hydro-power are under process to produce cheaper electricity in the country. These projects will help generate 11000 megawatt of the energy.

The minister claimed that no power load shedding is being carried out in the country as there is no shortfall of generation of electricity.

He informed the house efforts are underway to upgrade the capacity of transmission and distribution systems to cater to the upcoming generation and the demand.

The minister said task forces have been setup in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to check power theft. Aerial Bundled Cables in high loss areas being installed to avoid direct hooking in electricity wires, he said.

Omar Ayub clarified that low and middle income groups have been protected against the recent hike in power prices. He said we also have maintained power subsidy on agriculture tube wells.

The minister told the house 27 percent population is not connected to the national grid and off grid solutions are being considered in order to supply electricity to this segment of the population.

Minister of State for Communications Murad Saeed informed the house that Gojra-Shorkot and Abdul Hakeem-Lahore motorway sections will be opened for traffic in the next two weeks. He said Multan-Sukkur section of motorway will be completed before time whilst we are also planning to start construction work on Sukkur-Hyderabad section on built-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.