Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif has said that Pakistan will import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Qatar at lowest rate. "The contract for import of LNG with Qatar has not been signed yet, but it will be below 14 percent of the Brent. I assure the House that Pakistan will import LNG at the lowest rate in Asia, which will help us save billions of rupees," the minister said while speaking in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
The House adopted a motion moved by the minister to discuss the situation arising out of energy and electricity crisis in the country. Asif said that deaths from heatwaves in Karachi were not linked to electricity loadshedding. He blamed the provincial government and health departments for the deaths of a large number of people. He maintained that Karachi Electric (KE) was responsible for providing electricity to Karachi and not the federal government.
About LNG, the minister said: "We will produce electricity from this fuel at 20 percent less cost than Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), 30 percent less cost than Light Fuel Oil (LFO) and 50 percent lower than the cost of diesel fuel. We will generate 3600 MW additional power through LNG and save Rs 100 billion revenue per year." Asif said that total current power generation in the country stood at 13184 MW against the demand of 16645 MW. He said that upon the completion of the ongoing power projects in 2016-17, 969 MW electricity would be generated from Nelum Jhelum Project, 103 MW from Gomal Zam, 1410 MW from Terballa while in 2017-18, 1320 MW from Port Qasim and other projects.
He said that 2419 MW was the total capacity of K-Electric, while its net generation was 2093 MW. He said that the federal government provided 650 MW to K-Electric at half price. About receivables, Asif said that Rs 32 billion was due from NTDC, Rs 26 billion from Sui Southern, and Rs 3 billion from PSO. He said that five to six hours loadshedding was being carried out in the urban areas and eight hours in rural areas, while no loadshedding was being carried out during Sehr and Iftar timings. He said that 14000 to 15000 MW of electricity would be added to the national grid by 2018.
The minister said that maximum loadshedding was being carried in those areas where loss was 70 percent, 80 percent and 90 percent. He said that there were 230 feeders in the country where there were 95 percent losses. He claimed that the issue of power outages was created not by the present government but it was the result of criminal negligence of the previous governments.
Later, opposition parties in the National Assembly flayed the government for not devising a solution-oriented approach to end power crisis in the country. They also criticised the government for accommodating blue-eyed, relatives, corrupt and incompetent people in the power sector. Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said that due to heatwaves hundreds of people had died, which was a national issue and collective efforts should be made to address the problem. Shah said that if K-Electric had spare electricity and was not providing to people, then the government should take over it. The opposition leader further said that electricity theft should also be controlled and urged the power consumers to pay their bills. Shah said that government should not cripple Pakistan by "breaking its legs". "People are dying of loadshedding in hot weather, while the ministers have opened their books and are giving figures," he added.
He said the government had earlier told that the country had the capacity to generate 24,000 MW, then why it was not generating electricity to overcome power crisis. "If the federal government wants to cut power supply to Sindh, the province will produce its own electricity. But it will be dangerous for the federation as all the provinces will demand their share," he warned. He alleged that some people were trying to create confrontation among politicians, but they wanted the ruling PML-N to complete its five-year tenure.
Naveed Qamar of Pakistan People''s Party urged the Prime Minister to convene an emergency meeting of concerned departments over the issue. He said that the concerned authorities should take action against the K-Electric for failing to provide electricity to its consumers. Assad Umar of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf said the government had failed to deliver on its promises regarding power sector reforms. He said that professional and honest people should be deputed to bring improvement in the sector.
He claimed that blue-eyed people had been appointed in Ministry of Water and Power instead of professionals and competent people. Umar said the minister claimed that Karachi was not their mandate, then why it was taxing the citizens there. The PTI leader further said that power projects worth billions of rupees remained idle in the hand of "incompetent cronies of the government".
Abdul Rashid Godil of MQM said that Karachi was an economic hub of the country and the federal government could not remain oblivious to its problems. He regretted prolonged power outages in different cities and asked the government to find a permanent solution to power crisis. "Does the federal government remember Karachiites only when it has to collect taxes?," Godil questioned. Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Sahibzada Tariqullah, Amjad Ali Khan, Abdul Sattar, Dr Nafeesa Shah, Abdul Hakeem and Abdul Qahar also spoke in the house.