ISLAMABAD: The government communicated its grave anger over misrepresentation of figures by the power division regarding electricity generation.
The Power Division gave a presentation to the cabinet on 10th January 2018 outlining system constraints and power demands for coming summer season besides requirements for upgradation of distribution and transmission system in the country, reported Business Recorder.
The cabinet was apprised, for 132 KV lines, peak demand for 2017 stood at 25,717 megawatt (MW) and according to their estimate they would be able to provide 25,237 MW of electricity during the peak summer season of 2018.
To remove bottlenecks in 132/66 KV networks as per a report received from DISCOs, funding of Rs7.663 billion would be needed. For removal of 365 bottlenecks from 11 KV feeders, funding of Rs3.536 billion would be needed to ensure a power outage free summer 2018.
Over Rs32.716 billion would be needed for fixing of constraints in distribution transformers specifically to needs of 11 KV feeders and 132/66 kV for summers of 2018.
Funding of Rs19.069 billion is currently available to DISCOs, but it would require an additional amount of Rs13.467 billion to finish this job before deadline of March 31st, 2018.
For decreasing line losses, power theft, low transmission line would also need replacement with Aril Bundle Cable (ABC) of 19,686 KM costing Rs11.811 billion.
The power division further informed the cabinet that after completion of four power projects, Neelum-Jhelum, Tarbela extension-3 and 4 and RLNG, the electricity demand of the country could be fully meet in upcoming summer season,
Sources further shared members of federal cabinet from different constituencies expressed their grievances over the performance of the power division and its associated entities NTDC, PEPCO, CPPA etc.
The cabinet members providing their observations stated additional funds demanded by DISCO’s should be met from its own resources which should be done by reducing line losses and recovery of outstanding bills.
And the cabinet members said figures were provided by Cabinet Committee on Energy in 2016 and so forth didn’t match the ones provided during the presentation. It further stated power division would need to follow PPRA rules for international bidding, which take around 45 days to undertake.
Henceforth, the cabinet concluded power division wouldn’t be able to meet the deadline of 31st March 2017 for completion of its tasks.
