Balochistan: transmission lines unable to evacuate required electricity, parliamentary panel told

A parliamentary panel on Tuesday was informed that power transmission lines in Balochistan were unable to transport required electricity as the province's total demand is 1,680 Megawatts (MWs) while transmission line carries maximum 1,100 MWs. Additional Secretary Ministry of Water and Power, Umar Rasool while giving briefing to the Senate Functional committee on Problems of Less Development Areas which was held with Senator Usman Khan Kakar in the chair said that the government was working to enhance the capacity of the power transmission lines in Balochistan.
Senior officials of the ministry of Water and Power, Federal Flood Commission and WAPDA, briefed the committee. The Ministry of Water and Power through National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) is implementing a number of high voltage power projects in Balochistan to improve the system capacity, Rasool said. He said the government has completed Loralai and Khuzdar Grid stations while Dera Murad Jamali grid station will be completed by the end of December 2016, adding that work on the Khuzdar-Loralai transmission line is under progress which will be joined with Quetta.
Rasool said that work is under progress to join Gwadar-Khuzdar transmission line with national grid and the government is to ink an agreement with Iran for importing 1,000 MWs of electricity. On the directives of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved laying of Chashma-Zhob transmission line for which land has been acquired which would be completed in two phases. He added that the land has also been acquired for the construction of Chakdara Grid Station and the project would be done within a year.
Chairman committee and other members said that in rural areas power was being supplied to those feeders where members of National Assembly, Provincial Assemblies or Senators were residing, while the common people were still facing prolong and unscheduled power load-shedding. The committee members asked the Power Ministry officials to end unscheduled load-shedding in rural areas. They also asked to not punish 90 percent consumers who are paying bills. The committee recommended that additional funds should be allocated for the flood prone areas of the country.
Kakar said that only 8 percent power was used by the domestic purpose in Balochistan province while remaining 16 per cent were used for commercial and 71 per cent for agriculture purpose. He said that the farmers' community of Balochistan was facing serious problems due to forced load-shedding in various parts of the province. Chairman Committee also said, "A number of newly installed tube wells were non operational due to non availability of power connections, adding that the Ministry of Water and Power should provide meters to these tube wells", he emphasized. Early Flood Warning system should be improved to timely inform the people regarding the natural calamities, the committee suggested. The meeting was attended by Senators including Samina Abid, Maulana Tanveer-ul-Haq Thanvi, Mir Kabeer Ahmed Muhammad Shahi, Ms Khalida Perveen, Sardar Muhammad Azam Khan Musakhel and Gianchand.