Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division), Omar Ayub Khan, on Sunday, touted ‘zero’ electricity shortfall while claiming that power generation was higher than what was demanded in the country. Khan took to Twitter to inform at length that the electricity demand stood at 14,840 megawatts( MW) whereas 17,100 MW of electricity was available in the national system, as per statistics provided at 8:30 pm on Sunday.
Announced load management continued in the areas, where losses due to electricity theft and other technical reasons were rampant, the federal minister clarified. On February 22, Minister Khan had cried of inheriting fragile power generation and distribution systems from his predecessors. Affordable electricity was necessary for the progress of a country, he continued.
The power minister had announced plans to slash the price of electricity to make it affordable.
He added that the government was correcting its direction for improvement. Supplying cheaper power to countrymen remained the foremost priority of the government, he noted.
Khan said that the government wanted to minimise its dependence on oil for power generation. “We will move forward towards inexpensive alternate sources of energy,” he believed.
The energy minister took pride in the fact that the government was bringing foreign direct investment to Pakistan while promising investment to the tune of 40 billion dollars in the energy sector.