ISLAMABAD: Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar called on Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani here at the PM House on Saturday to discuss the overall electricity demand and supply situation in the country. The Prime Minister directed the Minister to undertake tour of all the provinces of the country to ascertain their requirements with the purpose of ensuring that the people of the country were not subjected to unscheduled load-shedding during the winter season.
The Prime Minister further directed that it should be the all out endeavour of the Ministry of Water and Power that the people and the industrial sector were put to minimum possible load-shedding of electricity.
The Prime Minister also asked the Minister for Water and Power to explore new avenues of power generation on pro-active basis to overcome the prevailing energy deficiency in the country at the earliest.
The Prime Minister appreciated the Ministry of Water and Power for undertaking new Hydel and Renewable Energy projects by using immense hydel and wind resources of the country.
The Minister for Water and Power informed the Prime Minister that the Ministry would give detailed briefing to the Prime Minister on the mega hydel and renewable energy power projects early next week.
The Minister said that these projects have already attracted huge foreign investment offers for the power generation projects of the government.
The Minister said that Asian Development Bank has already formalized to assume the role of leading financial advisor for the Bhasha-Diamir Dam.
The Minister further said that the work on Kohala-Jhelum power project was in full swing which would generate more than 1100 MW electricity for the national grid.
He further said that another ambitious power generation project at Patrand, Muzaffarabad, will soon be taken up by the Ministry. (APP)