ISLAMABAD, 30 AUG (DNA) – Chairing a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Energy at the PM House on Tuesday, the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that significant addition of power to the national grid with the completion of ongoing projects will eliminate load shedding in Pakistan for all times to come.

Federal Secretary Water and Power Mr. Younus Dagha gave detailed briefing on the timeline of the completion of the ongoing power projects in Pakistan. The Prime Minister was briefed that the power projects will be completed before March of 2018.

The projects that would be completed between the given timeline will include; three LNG power plants (Bhikki, Haveli-Bahadur, Baloki (3600 MW), Chashma 3 & 4 Nuclear (340) MW each, Guddu Gas (400) + MW, Nandipur Gas 100 + MW, Sahiwal Coal ( 1320 MW), Various Wind/Bagasse (350 )MW, Patrind HPP Hydel (147 )MW, Faisalabad Gas (250 MW), Neelum Jhelum (969 MW) and Tarbella 4 Extension (1410 MW) and Port Qasim Power Plant (1320 MW). The meeting was assured total of 11131 mega watts will be made available to the National Grid by the March of 2018.

The meeting was also briefed that all transmission line projects are on track to evacuate ongoing power projects, and billions of rupees have been invested in the existing distribution network to bear the load of additionally generated power through completion of ongoing power projects.

The Prime Minister said that never in the history of the country such a huge investment has been made into the energy sector. The government is not only working to meet the short fall the energy but is also catering for the future energy needs of the Pakistan. He said that increased power generation would also contribute towards economic growth, employment generation, increased industrial activity and foreign investment.

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said that he would personally monitor the progress on ongoing power projects across the country and will also perform onsite visits of all power projects to ensure their timely completion.

The meeting was attended by, Federal Minister for Finance Mr. Ishaq Dar, Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Water & Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, SAPM Mr. Tariq Fatemi and senior officials. DNA