KESC receives additional 75mw from Wapda

Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) has started receiving additional 75 Mw electricity from Wapda w.e.f Wednesday. KESC is also going to replace all overloaded transformers, to avoid power breakdowns, by June this year. Federal Minister of Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi stated this on Wednesday, at an emergency press briefing on current power shortage in the city. He directed the KESC management to completely monitor the transmission lines and overloaded transformers causing power breakdowns. He admitted that Karachi was experiencing frequent power breakdowns for the last few days, as he was reading in the newspapers, causing serious problems for the people.
The recent power breakdowns were result of various factors, he said. The demand for electricity is increasing due to city''s industrial growth, while the population of the city is touching the 160 million mark. On the other hand, the supply of power from Wapda stood at 500MW.
Wapda has now increased supply by 75MW, while the KESC would also control overloading, which would help in saving about 25MW of power for the city. "By adding these two, the city would get additional 100MW of power daily," he added.
At present, Wapda has 1500MW surplus power, but due the old and low capacity of the Karachi-Jamshoro transmission link, it is hard to supply additional power to Karachi. The ministry, trying to address the on-going power city deficiency, held a meeting with all concerned for early completion of Hubco link with KESC, which is likely to be completed by April 2006.
He said that President Pervez Musharraf has directed for early completion of Hubco link with KESC to provide relief to the city consumers.
Liaquat said that KESC should work harder to avoid breakdowns. It must be vigilant round-the-clock to handle the situation and provide uninterrupted power supply to its consumers.
He appealed to the electricity consumers to conserve power because of acute shortage, and avoid over-consumption to save power for their city.
He said that if the KESC faced gas shortage it would use diesel and furnace oil for power generation, and the government would absorb financial burden in this regard.
He said it was part of his responsibility to provide relief to power consumers by providing uninterrupted electric supply not only to domestic consumers, but to the consumers of commercial and industrial areas as well.