By Muhammad Luqman
Pakistan , presently with an energy mix dominated by expensive fuel based electricity , plans to replace the furnace oil fired power plants with those run by low-cost natural gas besides developing more hydel power stations.
“ We have plans to get rid of all the plants that are oil guzzlers; Year 2020 is the deadline to accomplish this feat,” State Minister for Energy, Abid Sher Ali told a news conference in Lahore, the eastern city of Pakistan.
Pakistan has been able to increase its power generation installed capacity to 21,000 Megawatt. Of this, only 30 percent comes from inexpensive hydel projects developed over the rivers of Indus and Jhelum. Most of the electricity is produced by furnace oil based Independent Power Plants (IPPs).
The minister claimed that about 85 percent of the transmission system had been upgraded while the rest of the system would be augmented by December this year.
He directed the Chief Executive Officers of all the 10 power distribution companies to complete their ongoing projects well before time
Highlighting the performance of present government in power sector, he lauded the unending efforts of all concerned quarters to overcome power outages and claimed that surplus electricity is available in the system. However, due to certain system constraints and line losses, load shedding is being observed at DISCOs level.
He warned that all those officials failing to complete projects within the given date would be penalized. He directed CEOs that honest and dedicated officers should be posted on key posts for completion of projects.
