PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of scrapping a 25,000MW power project approved and signed by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto when she was in power, calling it "political short-sightedness." Speaking at an inaugural ceremony for a 100MW gas-fired power project at the town of Nooriabad, 85 miles from Karachi, he accused Nawaz Sharif of "plunging the country into darkness."
He congratulated Sindh Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah for the installation of the 100MW project, despite what he alleged were hindrances created by the federal government, which he also accused of hatching conspiracies against the Sindh government. The chief minister said the power plant, conceived by Asif Ali Zardari when he was president, was planned to be installed on abandoned gas fields. But the present federal government "not only refused to hand over the abandoned gas fields but at one stage was reluctant to provide gas for this project."
According to the chief minister, when the project was nearing completion the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company refused to purchase power from the project, "absurdly saying that it had surplus power for the area of its operation." He described the refusal as "something to be ashamed of for Hesco."
The chief minister warned Hesco and the Sukkur Electric Supply Company (Sesco) "to perform efficiently, otherwise pack up." The Sindh government would establish its own power plants and its own distribution system, the chief minister said. The Sindh government has taken several initiatives for elimination of load shedding in the province, he added, without referring to details. There was going to be major investment in the development of Thar Coalfield Block II, the chief minister said, and the Sindh government has provided major support for development of a 2x50MW a gas fired power plant at Nooriabad under his government's Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
A special-purpose transmission line of 95 kilometres has received funds from the Sindh government through the Sindh Transmission and Dispatch Company (STDC) at a cost of Rs 2 billion, the chief minister said. The initiative is meant to eliminate load shedding in Karachi and assist the industries, he explained.