Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf said on Tuesday that no work on mega power project like Kalabagh dam would be initiated at the cost of the federation. Addressing a press conference, he said that work on the construction of Bhasha dam would be started and small dams on run of the rivers would also be built to enhance power generation in the country.
He described the incident of Multan as a conspiracy against the elected government and held the previous government responsible for power crisis, but avoided to criticise President Pervez Musharraf who according to one of the journalists present in the press conference was the godfather of Shaukat-led government.
The minister also expressed helplessness to free the country from series of loadshedding immediately and said the country would become loadshedding free after three years.
He termed negligence of the former government criminal, which had done nothing to increase power generation. He said that power distribution companies had been directed to form load management committees comprising members of business community, common people and other stakeholders to resolve the issue of loadshedding.
He said that the power distribution companies would submit a report in a week in this regard. These committees would chalk out loadshedding plan, he added. The minister also said that the government was working on introducing two holidays in a week and the ministry had started consultation with other ministries and business community to overcome power deficit.
To meet the power deficit, energy saver bulbs would be distributed and all government offices would have these bulbs, he further said. The minister said that miscreants were behind the protests over the loadshedding in Multan and warned them that the government would not let them play with law and order situation. He said that the inquiry was being conducted against them and they would be tackled as per law.
He said that the miscreants wanted to derail the process of democracy and they would not be allowed to do so at any cost. He said that people were fully aware of the fact that the former government's failure in planning energy policy had caused loadshedding in the country.
He appealed the people to save energy by adopting energy conservation methods to meet the deficit. He said that the country was facing the energy deficit of 3,200 MW at present and the government would add 2,528 MW to the current power generation system in one year to overcome the power deficit.
He said that all sources including thermal, hydel and alternative energy would be utilised to add more power to the current generation system. He said that 500 MW energy could be saved by adopting energy conservation method. He also said that private sector would be encouraged to make investment in the energy sector and all measures would be taken to facilitate them.
He said that credit goes to Peoples Party government that had encouraged the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in private sector that were generating 5,000 MW per day. He said the PPP government was criticised for bringing IPPs severely but it was the credit of the party that the country was having 5,000 MW.