NA forms special committee to look into power crisis

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Monday adopted a motion authorizing the Speaker to form a special committee of the House to look into the reasons leading to the current power crisis in the country and propose steps to alleviate power shortage.

A motion to this effect was moved by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi following consensus among members that the issue deserved focused attention, identification of factors behind the crisis and the way forward.

During debate on the motion to discuss the situation arising out of energy crisis, load-shedding, price hike in petroleum products, dengue fever and other related issues, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi proposed that a special committee should be formed to go deep into the issue.

Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar did not oppose the suggestion. The Speaker desired that the committee should hold its meetings on a day-to-day basis in view of the importance of the issue.

Winding up the debate, Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar said there were almost no power outages at the moment anywhere in the country because of the measures taken by the government.

The Minister said other measures are also being taken to address the issues involved.

Distribution companies are being structured and new CEOs being installed who would be managers in the real sense of the word.

They would not only concentrate on supply of power to consumers but also ensure that electricity is paid for.

He said that Pepco is to be dissolved within a fortnight and each of distribution company will have to support itself.

The Minister said that old equipment and machinery like boilers are being replaced with fuel efficient ones and in this regard oil based plants will be converted to coal based, bringing the electricity generation cost drastically down.

He said a bill is to be brought to the parliament to ensure that the tariff is dealt with the regulatory body on the basis of cost of input without any interference by the Government.

Speaker National Assembly said the next session of the house would begin on 14th of next month and the committee should submit its recommendations before that.

She also urged parliamentary party leaders to forward names for the proposed committee at the earliest for constitution of the committee.