The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has increased the duration of loadshedding with a seven-hour shutdown on regular basis from Tuesday. Officials of the Wapda here on Tuesday informed that the authority was facing a shortfall of around 3,000 megawatts and that it had decided to increase the duration of loadshedding in rural and urban areas.
Pakistan requires around 11,000 megawatts per day, while the per day availability is around 8,000 megawatts. The officials said that the shortfall might increase to 5,000 megawatts during the upcoming summer, adding that the power deficit was likely to decrease by the year 2009 because various new power generation projects would be started.
"Wapda has fixed five to seven hours load-shedding for the rural areas and four to six hours for cities on daily basis," the officials said. The Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) has asked all distribution companies including Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) to increase the load-shedding hours to overcome the shortfall.
The closure of canals, release of insufficient water by the Irrigation Department and the suspension of gas supply to power generating plants caused the power shortfall, Pepco spokesman said.