‘Government taking measures to overcome electricity shortage’ ISLAMABAD: The government assured the Senate on Tuesday that it was taking measures to overcome the 4,000 megawatt gap between electricity demand and supply. Responding to questions in the House, Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf said the government had taken both short-term and long-term measures to overcome the energy crisis and had undertaken various power-generation projects. He said these projects would be operational during the next three years. Ashraf told the House that the construction work on Munda Dam would start after the approval by the federal government and availability of funds. The PC-II for detailed engineering design had been submitted to the Planning Commission for approval. A budget allocation of Rs 80 million had been provided for the purpose in the Public Sector Development Programme for the financial year 2008-09. Senator Abbas Komaili, on a point of order, drew attention to “illegal” charging by the WAPDA authorities under the head of minimum bill or fixed charges in the absence of uninterrupted power supply to the consumers. The matter was referred to the relevant committee. The House was informed that a total of 496 villages and 368,813 people had been affected due to the recent rains and floods in different parts of the country. staff report/ app Home | National
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