ISLAMABAD: Minister for Power Engineer Khurram Dastagir Khan has said that Shanghai Thar Coal Power Project has started generating 2640 Megawatt electricity utilizing the local fuel, which will not only control the load-shedding, but also help in reducing the electricity prices.
Addressing a news conference here in Islamabad on Tuesday, he said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, made hectic efforts to produce electricity using local fuel and succeeded to add 1980 Megawatts electricity from Thar Coal in the system during the past ten months.
The Minister said Thar Coal have 175 tons of reserves which is sufficient to generate one hundred thousand megawatts of electricity. He said the government is tirelessly working on power projects and another project of ThalNova Thar Coal Power Project having capacity to generate 330 Megawatt electricity has also been centralized.
He said Iran-Gwadar Transmission Line project has also been completed, which will be inaugurated soon by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif. He said the government has launched a project of generating 6000 Megawatt electricity through solar energy, and in the first phase, request for proposal for establishing a 600 megawatts project in Muzaffargarh has also been floated.
Engineer Khurram Dastagir said the government is working on producing cheap electricity, which will help overcome load shedding issue particularly in the next summer season. Replying to a question, the Minister categorically stated that no change is being made in the electricity tariff. To another question, he said no load shedding was carried out for industrial consumers during the winter season.
