A plan of gradual reduction in loadshedding was presented to the newly-elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his first-ever official engagement after taking oath here on Thursday. Prime Minister Nawaz chaired an energy moot and expressed his firm resolve to take all out measures to resolve energy crisis in the country. "Electricity outages would be gradually reduced and line losses and electricity pilferage would be checked," Nawaz said while addressing the moot at the State Guest House.
Among others, the meeting was also attended by Shahbaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Pervaiz Rasheed and Shaukat Tareen. The prime minister said that long term solution to energy crisis was the need of the hour, besides immediate relief to the public. He also called for steps to control theft and wastage of power, adding that the country would have to get rid of redundant machinery and incompetent officers.
Nawaz said that finding solution to the energy crisis was top priority of the government. He said all the stakeholders would be taken into confidence to resolve the issue. The Prime Minister directed concerned authorities to speed up efforts for establishing low cost energy projects to address the energy shortage issue immediately. Energy experts said that for immediate relief from the outages a subsidy of Rs 1 billion per day was required.
Sources said that various proposals for reduction in power loadshedding were discussed and Nawaz Sharif stressed the need for taking measures on war footing basis to provide relief to the masses. Addressing the meeting, Nawaz said low cost energy generation projects will be commissioned soon. He said industrial and domestic consumers should be treated equally.
The option of generating electricity through coal was also discussed and in the first phase imported coal would be used for the purpose. The meeting also discussed various immediate and short term measures to overcome power crisis. The meeting was informed about salient features of a plan aimed at tackling loadshedding. It was emphasised to take stringent measures to check line losses and power pilferage. It was also informed that the government would soon add 700 megawatt to the national grid.
It was resolved that the energy projects will have to be implemented speedily for running the industries and ridding the people from loadshedding. It was also stressed that private sector should be fully encouraged for making investments in energy sector and there should be an independent and autonomous board comprising professionals associated with private sector for execution and rapid completion of energy projects. Earlier, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived on his first visit to the provincial metropolis after taking oath as chief executive of the country. Governor Punjab Syed Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood welcomed the prime minister at old airport on his arrival in the city. Senator Pervaiz Rashid and Senator Ishaq Dar accompanied the prime minister.