ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Federal Minister for Power Division Khurram Dastgir Khan said on Sunday afternoon that the country was banking on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to overcome to power shortage and eliminate the load-shedding.
“We are taking pragmatic steps to overpower load-shedding by focusing on generation, transmission and energy conservation to provide maximum relief to people,” the minister maintained in a statement.
“The present government has already added 1,980 MW (Megawatt) cheap electricity to the system from Thar coal reserves in just 10 months besides 720 MW and 1100 MW from Karot Hydropower and K-3 Nuclear Power Plants,” he added.
Khan said the previous Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)-led government led by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had successfully added over 10,000 MW electricity to national grid through China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects during 2013 to 2018.
He informed that total power generation from Thar coal stood at 2640 MW with formal commissioning of 1320 MW Shanghai Electric Thar Coal Project under CPEC. “Another 330 MW Thal Nova Thar coal project has already been synchronized in February that would help reduce load-shedding in summer and cut the power tariff.”
Khan mentioned that there were 175 billion tons coal reserves at Thar sufficient to generate 100,000 MW electricity. –Agencies
