Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that by 2018 load shedding will completely be eliminated from the country. He was speaking to a carefully selected gathering of civil society, media persons, staff of international financial institutions and diplomats about government's performance during the last three years in Islamabad on Thursday. The selection, sources revealed to Business Recorder, was made by the de facto head of the prime minister's media cell, his daughter Maryam Nawaz. Business Recorder was not invited to the briefing.
The minister said that 10400 megawatt of electricity will be added to the system by 2018, adding that 10 billion rupees have been saved by controlling line losses. The Minister said technical and line losses have been reduced by 24 percent. He said load shedding for domestic consumers has declined from seven to six hours, which will further come down in December this year. Khawaja Asif said since October 2014 uninterrupted electricity is being provided to the industrial sector.
The Secretary Ministry of Water and Power Mohammad Younus Dagha said a comprehensive strategy has been adopted to overcome the power shortages in the country. He said the government is facilitating a number of new projects and that under the CPEC 8630 out of 10400 Megawatt is in the execution stage, 3600 megawatts under LNG have reached the execution stage and CASA-1000 project agreements have been executed. He said generation will touch 33,024 MW against the demand of 25,981 MW. Of this the share of generation from hydel resources would be 28 percent, furnace oil 17 percent, RLNG 15 percent, Renewable Energy (RE) 8 percent, nuclear 8 percent, local gas 12 percent, imported coal 10 percent and local coal 2 percent. In June 2017, capacity will be 25080MW against a demand of 24,262MW and availability of 21,096MW. In December 2017, generation capacity will be 27,600MW against availability of 18,738MW and demand of 18262MW. In June 2018, capacity will be 30,938MW whereas demand will be 25,961MW and availability of 26,590MW.
Dagha further stated that T&D losses in 2007 were 19.4 percent to 18 percent in 2015 which is the lowest in the last ten years. The financial impact of reduction in T&D losses has been assessed at Rs 10 billion. Recoveries which stood at 92.30 percent in 2007, 88.80 percent in 2008, 91 percent in 2009, 86.50 percent in 2010, 89.50 percent in 2011, 87.90 percent in 2012, 88.70 percent in 2013 and 88.60 percent in 2014 have reached 93.40 percent in 2015. He claimed that the financial impact of improvement in recoveries was Rs 51 billion. Secretary Water and Power further stated that circular debt which stood at Rs 320 billion in October 2014 has been contained at Rs 329 billion, adding if corrective measures were not taken it would touch Rs 516 billion.
He said Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses have been slashed to 23.4 percent in 2015 from 26.5 percent in 2007, adding it was unprecedented achievement not only in Pakistan but in the region. Dagha further stated that power sector which was a defaulter of Rs 63 billion of power sector in 2014, paid Rs 61 billion in 2015. Likewise, power sector owed Rs 65 billion to IPPs in 2014 and paid an additional Rs 24 billion.
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi gave an overview of petroleum sector and steps taken in the last three years to meet energy requirements. Abbasi said that in the past 3 years the exploration and production companies operating in Pakistan have made 75 discoveries of oil/gas but these discoveries are not sufficient to meet Pakistan's total gas/oil requirements.
Abbasi said that at present Pakistan is producing 90,000 barrels of crude oil per day and national gas production is 4 Billion Cubic Feet per Day (BCFD), adding that within next two years the government will add 2 BCFD of imported LNG into the system. He said that Iran Pakistan (IP) Gas Pipeline project is likely to be completed in June 2018 while Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) in 2020. The Minister also claimed that Pakistan has imported the cheapest LNG in the region, adding that the government is supplying uninterrupted gas to industrial consumers. Highlighting progress in the communications sector, Chairman National Highway Authority Shahid Ashraf Tarar said work is under way on Rs 850-billion thirteen projects of motorways and highways across the country. He said the length of motorways in the country will reach 1800 kilometers by 2018.