SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
Worst power outages continue across the country while Lesco officials, having the perfect pretext for maintenance, are cunningly covering the huge gap between demand and supply pushing the power-supplying company to conduct hours-long shutdowns.
There is virtually no electricity in rural areas of the country while people in big cities and small towns are experiencing 14-hour blackouts on average daily. The official reason behind the outages has been described as the decrease in hydel generation which is standing at 1,400MW per day.
A Wapda spokesperson elaborated that the water outflow from main dams had decreased due to annual canal closure that led to reduction in hydel generation from around earlier 5,000MW to present 1400MW. The generation would increase from next month after de-silting of canals, he added.
However, the insiders say this shortage is not only due to less hydel generation but mainly because of fuel shortage. 50 per cent closure of IPPs (Independent Power Projects) and Wapda owned Gencos (Power Generating Companies) is the real cause of these power outages.
The combine sharing of IPPs, Gencos and hydel power plants to energy basket is standing at 8,000MW against the overall demand of more than 15,000MW, sources in power sector have said. Around 1,500MW from the available electricity is fixed for VVIP feeders and other strategic installations while remaining 6,500MW is being distributed among the all Discos of the country.
Lesco is conducting more than 12 hours shutdown at city feeders while the situation in other cities and rural areas under the limit of the Lahore Electric Supply Company is even worst. The company is also conducting 8-10 hours persisting power cuts at various city feeders in the name of maintenance in transmission system. During past 30 days, the areas under sub-division Niaz Beg (Division Allama Iqbal Town) witnessed three times consecutive worst shutdown of more than 10 hours a day. There are reports of similar kind of power outages in other areas of the city and especially in under-developed localities.
There were reports of protests in Lahore and other areas on Tuesday against prolonged power shutdowns.
Meanwhile, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday express grave concern over protests against power outages in various cities and called for corrective measures to avoid escalation of the situation.
In a statement issued here on Tuesday, LCCI President Ijaz A Mumtaz said that energy crises were deepening with every passing day and not only the business community but the general public were equally worried.
Despite tall claims by the concerned circles, electricity and gas situation was rapidly turning from bad to worse and forcing the people to come out on streets, the LCCI president said. He added that the ongoing power crisis would not only jack-up unemployment graph but would also create law and order situation while anti-government elements would take benefit of the situation and would add fuel to the fire.
He further said that the industry needed continuous supply of electricity and natural gas to keep the units operational and to complete the export orders within the given timeframe.
“Crisis in industrial sector will not only cause the capital growth and relocation of industrial units to the countries like Bangladesh and Malaysia but would also reduce government revenues drastically,”
Ijaz said. He added that the electricity crisis had crippled the industrial and economic activities, adding that the whole society was in the grip of great frustration leading to crime and severe mental unrest.
He urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take notice of the situation and take all possible measures including energy import for early solution of the crisis.
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