KARACHI, Sept 22: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Monday chaired a meeting at the Chief Minister’s House regarding power load-shedding in Karachi and the problems being created by the interruption in the power supply.

Mr Shah noted that the city was facing a general shortage of electricity owing to the energy crisis prevailing across the country.

He observed that the power shortfall in the metropolis was undermining development works while load-shedding and breakdowns were causing immense hardship to people, who occasionally take to streets and sometimes turn violent during protests.

The chief minister stressed the need for overcoming the problems by enhancing power generation and minimizing load-shedding.

He told the meeting that the provincial government would extend full support to the new management of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) in its efforts towards improving the power supply situation as per its commitments and programmes. He hoped that the new KESC management would be able to enhance its production capacity and improve its supply and distribution system.

The chief minister said the KESC should execute coal-power projects and consider installation of power plants at Jherruk or Sondha where coal was available in abundance.

He said the Sindh government and Wapda could also join in such projects as partners in order to help the KESC ensure a smooth and uninterrupted power supply to all its consumers.

Mr Shah stressed that in the meantime, the KESC management should take measures to minimize the duration of each span of load-shedding and stop unannounced power cuts. Proper publicity through the media about the timings of load-shedding should be ensured so that people could manage their routine, activities and programmes, he said.

Senior Adviser Brig (retd) Mazhar-ul-Haq and Chief Executive Officer Mr Naveed Ismail of M/s Abraaj, the new KESC owners, informed the meeting that the company was facing a shortage of about 400 megawatts. However, they said, the new management was striving to overcome the problem. Power theft through hooks (kundas) and other illegal practices were also undermining the efforts to improve the situation, they added.

Regarding the company’s strategy to meet the shortage, they said that 180 megawatts would be added by next summer and another 50 megawatts to be generated through the use of gas would be added later.

They told the meeting that a 10-year plan had been chalked out to overcome the shortfall and make the KESC self-sufficient.

Sindh Minister for Information Shazia Marri highlighted the problems being faced by the people of Karachi due to the load-shedding, and stressed the need for proper publicity through the media about any disruption in power supply.

She urged the KESC management to evolve a strategy to meet the future challenges pertaining to power requirement.

Chief Secretary Fazalur Rehman, IG Salahuddin Babar Khattak, Home Secretary Arif Khan and other officials were present.

Meanwhile, the chief minister chaired another meeting at the CM’s House to review the progress of various development schemes being implemented by the provincial government.

The meeting also reviewed some new uplift schemes.

Additional Chief Secretary (Planning & Development) Nazar Hussain Mahar, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Ghulam Ali Pasha, Additional Secretary (Finance) Ms Naheed Shah and other officials attended the meeting.—APP