KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Information and Electric Power Ms. Shazia Marri on Tuesday said that the Sindh Government, after consultation with the stockholders, will come up with a clear positive policy/ approach to implement the decisions of National Energy Conference of Lahore aimed to save electricity and gas.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah will have a meeting with stakeholders and take them into confidence on the Conference's decisions including two-days weekly holiday and closure of markets at 2000 hours in the larger national interest, the Minister said during a press conference at her residence.
She explained that Sindh Chief Minister in principle had instantly agreed to two weekly holidays and closure of markets by 08 p.m. However, she added, he was of the opinion that it would more proper to take the stakeholders on board to effectively implement the policy statement coming out of the energy conference.
She said that the Government has no plan to advance or reverse clocks but might make some changes in office timings. The exercise of advancing or reversing of clocks in the past did not give the desired results, she said.
Sindh Government is equally concerned about the country's economy and socio-economic uplift of the people. It would abide by every decision to be taken for the good of the country and the people. The province has been contributing 65 percent to the country's total revenue and produces 70 percent of total natural gas, she said.
When her attention was drawn to large scale power theft, the Minister said that the conference discussed the issue in detail and it was unanimously agreed that this must be aggressively checked. Political leadership participating in the conference recommended strong action in this regard. Sindh Government would soon come up with a strategy to stop power theft, she said.
Shazia Marri said that after 18th Constitutional Amendment, all provinces can produce electricity and gas. Sindh has already taken lead in renewable power generation.
It has identified three hydel power projects which would be executed at the earliest possible and more power projects would be started besides Thar Coal Project that is a mega project to contribute a lot to the social and economic improvement in the country especially Sindh. By 2020, we would produce 10,000 MW power from Thar coal project and the generation could be multiplied in future, she said.
She said that Sindh Government fully realises the difficulties of the people of Punjab due to shortage of gas and electricity as Sindh herself was faced with the same situation. All the provinces should share each other's problems showing national spirit and we are ready to join every positive step including saving and generation of energy.
Besides energy shortage, Sindh has been suffering from water shortage including destruction of its eco-system downstream Kotri, she said.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani have been taking personal interest to steer the country out of energy crisis and generate more energy to meet its future demand. President Zardari has also ordered to introduce drip irrigation system to save water for more cultivation.
She explained that while responding to the conference recommendation to cut gas supply to fertiliser manufacturing plants, the Sindh Chief Minister had suggested that his province was mainly based on agriculture that has already suffered due to floods and heavy rains. The cut in fertiliser production might create problem for agriculture sector in Sindh. The policy should be applied very carefully, he (CM) said.
All the provinces would have to be very rationale and live within the limits of available energy resources while consuming electricity and gas, she said.
She defended the energy policy adopted by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto during her government that included the independent power producers (IPPs) which helped induct 5800 MW into national grid. She regretted that IPPs were politicised and no investment was made in energy sector by the successive governments but the present PPP-led Government.
Because of shortage of electricity and gas, the country has witnessed very low local and foreign investment. The present Government had inherited energy crises. However, she said, the best effort are being made to bridge the demand and supply gap of energy in the country.
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