ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that it was a “very very difficult challenge” for the government to control loadshedding but government would overcome the crisis by restoring the halted projects.
Chairing a meeting to review measures to end power outages, he said ending loadshedding was the responsibility of the coalition government despite the inherited baggage of crisis from the previous government.
PM Sharif said the government was focused on taking effective measures to ensure an uninterrupted supply of electricity to consumers.
He said the government was cognizant of the problems faced by the people during high mercury levels, adding that every effort would be made to address the genuine challenges.
He mentioned that to resolve the problem, the government banned the import of machinery for raw materials and avoided the purchase of expensive gas.
The prime minister pointed out that the lack of maintenance of power plants during the tenure of the previous government resulted in power shortage.
He said quashing the transparent and cheap deal with Qatar for the supply of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) at a 13 percent rate in a period of 15 years was big negligence on part of the previous government.
Also, the prime minister said, despite commitment, the revolving account was not opened with China.
He also regretted that during the last four years, the opportunity to buy cheap gas was deliberately missed.
A power plant of 1250 megawatt in Haveli Bahadur Shah is closed due to apathy of the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, he added.
He said the situation led to financial challenges and slowed down the pace of development in the country.
