Withdrawal of 350 megawatts from KESC system: committee constituted for working out modalities

Minister for Water and Power, Ahmad Mukhtar, has constituted a committee to work out the modalities for withdrawal of 350 MW electricity of NTDC from KESC system as both Sindh government and KESC management are resisting the Council of Common Interest (CCI) decision.
According to an official statement, a meeting was held here on Wednesday with Ahmed Mukhtar in the chair to implement the decision of the CCI regarding utilisation of idle capacity of KESC and to withdraw 350 MW from KESC system. The meeting was attended by Secretary Water and Power, Special Secretary Water and Power, Chief Secretaries of the provinces, Chairman Nepra, MD NTDC, MD KESC, senior officials of Finance, Petroleum, and Ministry of Water and Power.
Minister for Water and Power in his opening remarks said that the government was taking all possible steps to overcome the energy crisis in the country. He said that best possible way would be adopted to implement the decision of the CCI amicably. He said that the decision had been taken by the CCI on the recommendations of the committee set up for equitable load shedding.
The minister said that 350 MW would be added to the national grid and would be distributed to all the consumers. He expressed the hope that the energy crisis would be controlled soon as a number of measures were being taken to reduce load shedding. Secretary Water and Power, Nargis Sethi said that the Ministry was working for uniform load shedding in the country both for urban and rural areas. He said that the electricity had become the basic necessity for all and people in all walks of lives were affected by the load shedding. "We have to reduce the miseries of the people even for the rural areas by providing maximum power," she added. She asked all the stakeholders to submit their proposals for early implementation of the decision.
Chief Secretaries of Sindh, Punjab, KPK, Chairman Nepra and MD KESC presented their point of views on the decision before the participants of the meeting. After detailed deliberation by the stakeholders, it was decided to set up a committee under Secretary Water and Power to work out modalities for utilisation of idle capacity generation of KESC. Other members included Chief Secretary Sindh, MD KESC, Nepra, Finance and Petroleum representatives. The committee would submit its recommendations within four weeks.