Sharif pledges to resolve Pakistan's energy crisis

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today pledged his government would make effective use of all available resources to counter Pakistan's energy crisis as the gap between demand and production of electricity soared to 6,000 MW.
Sharif presided over a meeting on the energy situation at the State Guest House here and was given a detailed briefing on the crisis. A plan for reducing power outages was presented by officials to the premier.
"I have to put in place such initiatives that keep industrial wheels and the fans of everyone's home on the move," Sharif said.
The energy sector is one of the priorities of the PML-N government and all stakeholders will be taken on board to overcome the problem, he said.

Sharif has repeatedly described the energy crisis, which has resulted in power outages of up to 20 hours a day across the country, as the biggest challenge currently confronting Pakistan.
Power outages across the country worsened as the gap between demand and production of electricity reached 6,000 MW, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

The current generation of electricity is 11,000 MW while the demand is 17,000 MW.
Due to increasing demand' big cities were facing power outages of one to two hours after every hour, the report said.
The new government plans to gradually retire the power sector's huge circular debt to streamline the electricity generation chain and bring outages under control, officials said.

Sharif directed authorities to determine the viability of all electricity projects and to prepare estimates and financial requirements for implementing the projects.
He stressed the need for expediting work on power projects to ensure the generation of electricity at a low cost.
He also called for getting rid of incompetent officials and useless machinery.
Officials were directed by the premier to take stringent measures to stop electricity pilferage.