Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Saturday assured the people of Karachi that there would be no "unannounced electricity load shedding" in the city from today (Sunday) after a decision to increase supply of furnace oil and gas to power utility K-Electric.

He was addressing the media alongside Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and K-Electric Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Moonis Alvi at a protest gathering by the PTI's Karachi chapter against continued load shedding in the metropolis.

Announcing decisions made during a "high-level meeting" of government officials and the power utility earlier today, Umar said.

"The petroleum division has increased the supply of furnace oil for KE and it will be increased further. Currently, 190 million cubic feet of gas is being supplied to KE. This has been increased to 290m cubic feet."

Asad Umar said initially, a few dual-fire units of the power utility would be run on furnace oil, which would later be extended to all dual-fire units. However, the minister said increasing the supply of oil did not mean the petroleum ministry was at fault.

"The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) is the regulatory authority. It completed a hearing today and will give its verdict later'. "Our purpose was to determine how to end unscheduled load shedding in Karachi. We have decided to increase the supply of gas as well as furnace oil to KE," he disclosed.

"[As a result of these decisions] there will be no unannounced load shedding in Karachi from tomorrow." The minister said it was "unfortunate" that previous governments had signed agreements worth billions of dollars to increase power generation in Pakistan but did not take decisions as to how Karachi could benefit from increased power generation.

Talking about steps the PTI government has taken in this regard, Asad Umar said it had been decided in the past few months that an additional 550 megawatts of energy would be given to Karachi before next summer.

"Then there will be another 800MW increase before the summer of 2022 and another 800MW before the summer of 2023. Collectively, 2,150MW of additional energy will be given to Karachi by the summer of 2023," the minister claimed.

"This will be an almost 70 per cent increase in power generation compared to now," he said. "KE is a private organisation and previous governments have privatised it and the power generation process. But Karachi has not been privatised," he said.

Asad Umar added that he and the Sindh governor had told the KE chief that the federal government wanted to fully help the power utility to solve problems of the people in Karachi.

"But if you cannot solve them despite help, then we will not look the other way and will use the entire power of law to ensure that people of Karachi are not deprived," he warned.

The minister said that NEPRA would release a report within three or four days and place responsibility on who was behind load shedding in the city. Responding to a question about compensation for those who died due to electrocution during last year's monsoon rains, he said Nepra would take a decision on that.

"The Centre is fully ready to help [the authority] implement its decision if needed."

The Federal Minister said that the gas supply to K-Electric is being increased to 290 million cubic feet and supply of furnace oil has also been increased as Bin Qasim Power plant can be operated on the oil. Three-quarters of Karachi will be provided uninterrupted power, he announced.

Asad Umar added that before the summer of 2021, Karachi will have additional power of 550 MW and after 2 years the additional power supply to Karachi will be at 1350 MW.

Meanwhile Governor Sindh Imran Ismail Imran Ismail said that KE has not made any investment or expenditure to boost production of the electricity.

The governor was addressing a session on Karachi's power woes, where KE officials gave a briefing as well. The session was held on directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

'The city is being provided 2,950MW of electricity, and the shortfall is 250MW,' said KE CEO.

To which, the governor responded that then the load shedding should not be of more than an hour, but power is switched off for six to seven hours in parts of the city.

The governor expressed his dissatisfaction with the power company, saying it failed to fulfill its obligations despite help from the Centre.

He said that the Centre has surplus electricity, although the power company cannot add more than 720MW from the national grid to its system.

Ismail said that KE is 'more concerned over its profits' over people's benefit, adding that the Bin Qasim power plant can be made operational on furnace oil if gas supply is an issue.

The power supply company said that with the help of the national grid, it can add 500MW to the system until next summers. Until April 2022, KE said it will add 800MW to the system and in 2023 as well.

© Pakistan Press International, source Asianet-Pakistan