Government committed to resolving water, power issues: Qamar

Federal Minister for Water and Power, Syed Naveed Qamar has said that government is committed to resolve the issues of water and power sectors in order to stabilise the economy and enable social uplift in the country. He was presiding over a briefing arranged for him at Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) House Saturday during his maiden visit to Wapda and Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) headquarters.
Qamar said that both the sectors being vital for socio-economic development require effective execution of (development) plans. Directing Wapda and Pepco to expedite their efforts in achieving the targets, he said assured that the ministry would fully support them to help overcome problems in implementing their projects. Referring to the electricity crisis, he said that government is taking all possible measures to address the issue in the shortest possible time.
Briefing the Minister, Wapda Chairman Shakil Durrani said that the authority is focused on optimal utilisation of water and hydropower resources to cope with the increasing demand. He said that a number of mega projects are being executed under 'Vision - 2025' including five dams, three mega canals, five hydropower projects and two drainage schemes. He informed the minister that work on Diamer-Basha Dam, the biggest project in the history of Pakistan, would soon be commenced.
In addition to the ongoing projects, feasibility studies and detailed engineering designs of various hydropower projects, with the accumulative capacity of 25,000MW, are in the advance stage of completion, he added. Durrani also briefed the minister about the use of land, water availability and sedimentation of reservoirs. Pepco Managing Director, Rasul Khan Mahsud presented to the minister an overview of the power sector. Among the critical issues of the company, he apprised about the contributing factors behind the gap between demand and supply of electricity. He also apprised the minister about Pepco plans to upgrade aged power plants in the public sector.
Besides power sector reforms, matters pertaining to the financial issues including receivables and payables, difficulties being faced in recovery and plugging theft of electricity were also discussed with the minister. Senior officers of the ministry, Wapda and Pepco were also present on the occasion.