Govt to audit power plants set up during PML-N tenure

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that the incumbent government has decided to conduct audit of all power plants set up by former Pakistan Muslim League (PMl-N) government.

Speaking to media after the Economic Coordination Committee meeting, the Minister announced that LNG and other power plants of Punjab will be investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), as the PTI government will expose the wrongdoings of PML-N in front of public, he vehemently said.

“The tenure of PML-N was worst with regards to electricity issues,” Chauhdhry slammed the performance of previous government and underscored the need to ‘reveal the games’ that PML-N played with the public.

The Minister told that the electricity is being provided at Rs.11.71 per unit today, while it is costing Rs.14.22 to the government. On the contrary, “Shehbaz Sharif claimed to have established plants for low-priced electricity,” he added.

“What has been done in 10 years by these people that they are criticizing the 40 days old government?” Chaudhry lashed out at the opposition parties.

The federal Minister further clarified, “National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) determines the power tariff and was created by the previous governments not us.”

“NEPRA informed us that we should increase the prices of electricity,” he apprised the media, stating the figure for daily demand of electricity which stands at 14,900MW in the country today.

On the other hand, earlier today, the meeting of Economic Coordination Committee concluded with a decision to keep the power tariffs unchanged until the next session of the committee.

According to details, Finance Minister Asad Umer chaired the meeting to mull over the increase in electricity price and decided to deliberate on the difficult decision in the upcoming meeting of the ECC.

Nevertheless, the government consented the provision of LNG to industries during the session.

The federal government also directed the authorities to ensure uninterrupted supply of gas to the export sector throughout the winters.