Naveed Qamar manages raise in power generation

Subsequent to a concerted effort led by Minister for Water and Power, Syed Naveed Qamar, power generation has reached 14419 MW which is the highest generation figure in May as compared to previous years. With the increase in power generation especially thermal power, the gap between demand and supply has lessoned substantially.
Qamar during the past three years held the portfolio of Finance, and Privatisation (twice), but his success in these ministries was negligible. He has, however, proved a better Minister for Water and Power than his predecessor Raja Parvez Ashraf, who was unable to fulfil his repeated promise to end load shedding by December 2009. A spokesman for the Ministry of Water and Power said that on the directives of Minister Syed Naveed Qamar fuel supply to the power plants was now being ensured as per requirements so that optimum generation could be achieved.
According to the spokesman, Minister has directed Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) to utilise all the resources available to generate electricity. The gap between demand and supply of electricity would be further reduced in the coming weeks in June. Hydel generation will improve after increase in the water releases from Terbela and Mangla dams.
After increase in generation Pepco has ended unannounced load shedding and the duration of announced load shedding has also been reduced. The country produced 12400 MW in the month of May in the previous year. On Friday, the generation was 14419 MW against the demand of 16152 MW with a short fall of 1733 MW. The break up shows that generation from hydel was 5525 MW, IPPs 6931 MW, Gencos 1864 MW and Rentals 99 MW.
Naveed Qamar recently stated that load shedding will not be eliminated completely in the near future, but its duration will be minimised through better management. Another factor which led to reduction in load shedding was addition of 1200 MW power from thermal and hydel sources.
The spokesman further stated that the government was fully aware of the situation and taking all the measures necessary to enhance power generation in order to reduce the gap. Due to the measures, it is expected that the generation will further increase from 1000 to 2000 MW from June onwards. Pepco has been asked to make arrangements for fuel for thermal units in the coming days to increase generation, the spokesman concluded.