May 12 , 2015
News
Govt to set up 40,000MW power projects: Asif
INPISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif has said that power projects with an aggregate capacity of 40,000 megawatts (MW) would be set up in the country during the next five to ten years to resolve the power shortages in the country.
Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Tuesday afternoon, he rejected criticism that most of the power projects were proposed to be set up in Punjab, and pointed out that only 12 per cent projects would be established in Punjab and rest in other provinces.
The power minister said projects worth 10,250MW would be set up in Sindh, 9,410MW in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2,720MW in Balochistan, 5,000MW in Punjab, 11,917MW in Gilgit-Baltistan and 4,000MW in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
He said as for energy projects under China-Pakistan Energy Corridor were concerned, only 25 per cent projects would be in Punjab despite the fact that its population was 60 per cent of the total population of the country.
Asif said most of the hydel projects were being implemented in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because of availability of water there, adding that as against this, coal-based projects were being executed in Karachi, Gwadar, Port Qasim and Sahiwal. He said power outages had decreased this year as compared to last year as the government added 2,000MW to the system.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk