National grid to have 2200 MW additional electricity in one year, Cabinet decides

Ch.Ahsan Premee

Staff writer

ASSOCIATED PRESS SERVICE


ISLAMABAD : Federal Cabinet Wednesday decided to add 2200 MW electricity to the national grid system in one year to meet energy needs and provide relief to the people. Ministry of Water and Power has already added 310 MW through saving of line losses, said Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ms Sherry Rehman while addressing a press briefing on the decisions taken by Federal Cabinet which met here with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in the chair.
She said Prime Minister had outlined an action plan in his policy speech, whereby 2200 MW of additional electricity generation will be added in the national grid system.
Sherry Rehman said present government realizes that the people are suffering owing to load shedding, therefore, it is pursuing different means to meet the shortfall.
The Minister said the Cabinet deliberated upon the severe energy shortage and probed into the possibilities of various measures that could be adopted to conserve energy.
However, she said before any measures are adopted, all the stakeholders will be taken on board including the private sector and for this very purpose, a one point agenda meeting of the Cabinet will be held soon.
The special cabinet meeting will come up with a constructive policy for saving energy and power generation, Sherry Rehman said.
She informed that the Prime Minister said the conservation efforts need the support of all sections of the society - every family, every institution and every sector.
“All of us have to contribute our share in this national exercise, workers and the common man, all have to sacrifice a bit of their need and accordingly determine for themselves how to reduce the consumption of electricity, gas and fuel,” she added.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sherry Rehman said the Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Housing and Works to come up with concrete proposals in consultation with all stakeholders to build one million housing units every year for low income sections of the society at affordable price.
She said Minister for Housing apprised the Cabinet that a contract will be awarded to start work on housing units in various cities prior to the completion of 100 days of the present democratic government.
Sherry Rehman said the Cabinet also directed the Ministry of Interior to computerize the record of the Kachi Abadis with a clear objective of development planning of the Abadis to provide civic amenities to the residents. It was also meant to discourage the land grabbers and save the inmates from the curse of litigation, she added.
The Minister further informed that the meeting decided to transfer the subject of “Kachi Abbadi” to the Ministry of Local Bodies.
Highlighting the other decisions of the Federal Cabinet, she said it also decided that henceforth all MoUs signed with other countries would be followed up and implemented in letter and spirit unlike the past.
She said the Cabinet approved in principle to start negotiation on draft agreement on security cooperation between Pakistan and Iran.
It also approved the decisions including avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion of income tax and the ratification of agreement between governments of Pakistan and Zimbabwe on deputation of Pakistan Armed Forces Personnel to Zimbabwe.
The Minister said the Cabinet accorded ex-post fecto approval for initiation of negotiations for signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Government of Pakistan and Government of Malaysia in the field of agriculture, livestock and trade.
Replying to a question, she said the government wants that the bye-elections should be held in June.
Sherry Rehman said “The committee on the judges is holding meetings and would come up with a comprehensive plan to reinstate as well as carry the current judges that we have with us.”
When asked about the postponement of bye-election, she said Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani and Co-Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Asif Ali Zardari have discussed the matter and the government hopes that the Election Commission would fulfill its constitutional responsibility by conducting the polls in June.
On price hike and inflation, she said prices of edible commodities and oil in the international market have risen which has left an adverse impact on national economy.
However, realizing this fact, she said the government is planning to provide a special relief to the poor by the coming budget.
Sherry Rehman said it was unfortunate that the previous regime handed over power to the peoples’ representatives with economy in dire straights and added this government is ready to face challenges and would surely provide relief to the masses as it did in the past.
The government was making all out efforts to bring stability in the prices of daily use items.The aim of the government is to facilitate the poorest of the poor and in this regard it is already taking measures to launch a scheme for provision of food items on subsidized rates.
Answering another question, she said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the Cabinet that within next 14 months, the economy would be able to turn around.
On energy policy, she said “conservation was discussed in detail during the meeting, but certainly there was need of comprehensive energy policy in the country.”
She said the present government would promote the policy of constructing small dams and utilize all resources like solar, wind, coal to meet the energy demand.
The Minister said the past government should have thought about the increasing power demand as without enough power wheels, the economy cannot move forward.
A meeting of experts on energy sector both from public and private sectors would be held soon to devise methods to overcome this crisis.
“Load shedding is crippling both economy and the user and a special cabinet meeting would be called soon for specifically addressing this issue,” she told another questioner.