Addressing the meeting the Prime Minister said that government is making strenuous efforts to bridge the gap between demand and supply and due to the Energy Conservation plan 1500 Mega Watts electricity is reportedly being saved per day.
Welcoming the Chief Ministers, Federal & Provincial Ministers and other participants in the meeting convened to review implementation of the Energy Summit decisions and evaluate the desirability of their continuity beyond 31st July 2010, the Prime Minister has observed that the crisis has imposed heavy costs on economy and people have to endure long hours of load-shedding. As you know, he added, the country has been in the grip of a persistent energy crisis since the last several years.
The Prime Minister mentioned that the Energy Summit was held in April this year to evolve national consensus and mobilize public support for the future energy roadmap of this country, particularly the conservation measures to provide immediate relief in the situation. He said the Summit was a major success for the political leadership of this country. For the first time ever national consensus was achieved on the national energy roadmap, he added. Subsequently, he said that the Energy Summit decisions were reviewed on 10th May 2010 and it was decided to reinforce their implementation to ensure immediate relief in energy situation in the country.
The Prime Minister has pointed out that there are still gaps in implementation of some conservation measures. Notwithstanding these gaps, he added, impact of the conservation measures has been impressive. He has observed that the situation this year is better than the last year. He pointed out that about 1500 Mega Watts electricity is reportedly being saved per day. He has mentioned that saving due to Saturday closure is reportedly 500 MW which has provided the much needed relief to industry, agriculture and household consumers. He has further said that in financial terms, the government is saving about US $ 150 billion in operating costs.
The Prime Minister has apprised the meeting that recently the government of Pakistan has jointly evolved an energy roadmap to eliminate load shedding in the country which will be presented to the Inter-Ministerial Committee of FODP in October this year for funding and technical support of the international community. He said that government of Pakistan is making strenuous efforts to bridge the gap between demand and supply, yet there are several challenges which have to be tackled with the well thought out national approach.
The Prime Minister said the government is making all-out efforts to bridge the gap between demand and supply. He appreciated that the approval of Diamir Bhasha Dam by the Council of Common Interest is a milestone. He pointed out that the Dam will provide 4500 MW of power, in addition to the much needed water storage capacity for agriculture.
The Prime Minister said the government has announced a Vision Statement for the power sector which envisages addition of 20000 MW by 2020. He further said that the new vision depends heavily on use of indigenous fuel resources like coal, hydel, gas and renewables. He hoped that the World Bank will come out strongly in support of this Vision with a higher financial outlay. He informed the participants that the Government have been given the understanding that the World Bank has agreed to provide support for coal-based power projects. He asked the Ministry of Water and Power to provide necessary support for infrastructure development in Thar Coal area.
Prior to the energy meeting the PM also met Chief Ministers of Sind, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.
The Prime Minister thanked the Chief Ministers for their cooperation in the implementation of the measures taken for the conservation of energy. These measures, he added, helped in saving 1500 MW per day .This summer unlike the previous year, he added, the industry was provided uninterrupted power supply and in the same way the tube wells were provided 10 hours uninterrupted power supply in the rural areas. He further said that duration of the load shedding was restricted to four hours in residential areas.The Prime Minister informed the Chief Ministers that the two days weekly off and closure of the markets at 8’o clock in the evening has helped in conserving significant amount of energy and the saved energy was diverted to the industry.
The Chief Ministers commended the political acumen of the Prime Minister and lauded his reconciliatory approach in building consensus on energy issues. They assured full support for implementation of measures on energy conservation which will be taken in the review meeting.
Raja Pervez Ashraf Minister for Water & Power and Mr.Naveed Qamar Minister for Petroleum and natural Resources were also present in the meeting.