Pakistan has requested Iran to normalise power supply to Balochistan: Hammad Azhar

Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar said on Thursday that the Pakistani authorities have requested the Iranian government to normalise its power supply situation, amid load shedding in Balochistan’s coastal region.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, the federal minister informed that power shortfalls in Iran have led to load shedding in Pakistan’s Gwadar, Turbat and Makraan regions.

“These areas are not connected to the national grid and dependent on Iranian power supply,” said Azhar. The federal minister added that they have taken up the issue with its neighbour and requested them to normalise the power supply.

The port city of Gwadar is a vital cog in the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion investment plan aiming to link western China to the southern Pakistani port of Gwadar.

Iran has been hit by severe water shortages in recent weeks, which has led to outages in areas supplied power by hydroelectric plants.

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Meanwhile, Azhar said that work is also in progress on connecting these areas with the national grid. “This involves laying transmission lines for hundreds of kilometers. This project will be completed within two years,” said Azhar.

Azhar in a meeting with the Iranian ambassador informed that the power outage in some areas of Balochistan is due to power shortfall in Iran.

The Energy Minister urged to restore power supply to Balochistan as soon as possible. The Iranian envoy assured the minister of speedy restoration of power.

On Wednesday, the Secretary Power and CEO Qesco informed the Senate Standing Committee on Power committee that Iran is not supplying 100MW electricity as per the agreement as it is also facing load shedding these days.