Power outages to be a thing of past by 2018: Secretary Water Power

Lahore: Pakistan would get over its frequent power outages by year 2018 after completion of a number of electricity generation projects and addition of 12,568 MWs to the national grid, Secretary Water and Power said Thursday.

The Secretary’s briefing was part of a series of briefings by Ministry of Water and Power and National Highway Authority highlighting the successful policy decisions taken by the PML-N government in the past three years and its vision for a prosperous Pakistan.

Briefing the diplomats, civil society and the media on the Water and Power Sector here at the Prime Minister Office, Secretary Mohammad Younus Dagha said under a long term plan the country would have an additional generation capacity of 30,948 MW by the year 2022 through Neelum Jhelum, Chashma nuclear, wind, hydel, LNG, Jamshoro Coal and Bagasse power projects. He said 8630 MW would be generated under the prioritized CPEC energy projects in the same period.

The participants were informed that in 2013 the country faced a power deficit of 5500 MW and its industrial and urban sectors were facing 12 hours loadshedding, while the ru…ral areas faced 14 hours power outage leading to low industrial output, higher unemployment and loss of economic growth.

Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif responded to questions by the participants. He said work was going on to upgrade and improve the transmission lines and network. He said line losses have decreased while power generation increased. The Minister said there was no loadshedding during the Sehri, Iftari and Taraweeh timings and said it would further decline by year’s end. He also apprised the participants about the various ongoing development programs of his Ministry. He said the present government changed the strategy in 2014 by improving cash flows, optimizing generation, having a predictable load management, better customer service and investment facilitation. He said it led to record high recoveries of Rs 51 bln or 93.40 per cent; highest in past ten years. While Transmission and Distribution Losses were cut down to 10 bln, or 18 percent; the lowest in past ten years.He said the Circular Debt has also been effectively capped.

Mentioning the peak generation phases, he said the highest of 16,866 MW was generated in 2015, while this year a peak generation of 17,120 MW has been achieved in June 2016. The Secretary said by year 2016 the country would be producing 19,917 MW of electricity.He said under the Power Generation Policy 2015 several initiatives have been taken that include Transmission Lines Investment Policy, focus on Coal Based Power, LNG Based Power, CPEC power generation projects of 8630 MW, production through LNG – 3600 MWs and the CASA-1000 project.He said under the policy to facilitate new IPPs 12,113 MW of electricity would be generated.

Giving a breakdown of power generation by year 2022 he said a total of 30,948 MWs would be generated; of which 38% would be obtained from Hydel, 14% from Renewable, 16% from imported coal, 13% from indigenous coal, 12% from imported LNG and 7% from nuclear. Giving an overview of history of loadshedding he said it has cut down to eight hours in rural areas, six hours in urban areas, while it is zero for the industrial sector. He said by June 2017 the loadshedding hours for rural areas would be down to 3 hours and for urban areas to two hours only.He said in 2016 the estimated investment in the power sector was estimated to be 3,617 million dollars. In 2017 it was expected to be 11,420 million dollars and by 2019-22 it would be 36,084 million dollars.He said that the customer service has also been improved through enhanced employee efficiency and reduction in response time. He said daily payment instructions to generation companies were also published on website including payments made to IPPs and power sector entities. Similarly the performance of DISCOs was also published on website on quarterly basis.

The Secretary Water and Power said under the CPEC the work was in progress on the $ 36 billion power projects and the completion of these projects will make the country self-sufficient in power sector. He clarified that the inflow of foreign capital in power projects under CPEC was investment and not loan. Under the Prime Minister’s direction, transparency was being ensured in all power
projects including wind, hydel, coal and solar.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in his briefing on Government Performance and Strategy said Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) was the only Short to Medium Term solution to Pakistan’s Energy Crisis.He said the current gas supply in the country was less than four BCFD, while the demand was over six BCFD. He said it was expected that under the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline project an estimated 0.25 – 0.75 BCFD would be made available by June 2018, while under the Turkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan India (TAPI) 1.325 BCFD would be added by January 2020.

It was informed that the 2 BCFD Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) would be added to the System by mid-2018, and would be used to run 4000 MW of LNG based Power Plants by mid-2017.The participants were informed that an amount of 2 billion dollars has been invested in terminals and pipelines, while an enabling Regulatory Environment created.

He said so far 400 MMCFD LNG based Gas has been injected into system and it would be enhanced to 1200 MMCFD by June 2017.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the all power plants and pipelines in the country were fully operational, fertilizer plants were operating and the industry was getting natural gas 24/7 and gas was available for the CNG sector. It was also informed that 15 MTPA LNG would be procured; of which 3.75 MTPA would be from Qatar, 0.75 MTPA from Gunvor, 4.50 MTPA though 2016 contracts and 6.00 MTPA through 2017 Contracts. It was expected that by 2018 there would be surplus gas in the system.

The participants were informed that following the improvement of Petroleum Policy in 2013, Model Petroleum Concession Agreement has been developed, 46 new exploration licenses granted, 94 conversions made into New Policy, 21 new leases granted. Besides unconventional resources were being explored.

It was further informed that 281 New Exploration and Development Wells have been drilled, 75 Oil and Gas Discoveries made, 580 MMCFD Gas Production has been added to the system, 25,000 BPD Crude Oil Production added, while the Highest Crude Oil Production – 100,000 BPD was achieved on Dec 7, 2014.He said the domestic production has increased to 90,000 BPD, while there were imports of 400,000 BPD. The refining capacity has been enhanced to 11 MTPA whereas the consumption was 23 MTPA.

The participants were informed that there would be a shift in gasoline from non-standard 87 RON to 92 RON from October 1, 2016, while there would be deregulation of higher RON products.The diesel would be shifted from non-Standard 3000+ ppm Sulphur Diesel to 500 ppm Sulphur Euro II Diesel from Jan 1, 2017.

The reliance on Fuel Oil would be reduced by shifting Power Generation to high-efficiency LNG based Gas. It was informed that deregulated Market based pricing mechanism and tax incentives for LNG based CNG would be provided. Additional gasoline and diesel storage at ports and depots would be created, while White Oil Pipelines would be constructed, Multi-Grade capability on Existing Black Oil Pipeline from Karachi to Multan, Pipelines for Gasoline and Diesel transport between Depots.

Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA) Shahid Ashraf Tarrar in his briefing said work was in progress on 13 motorway projects and in the next three years the road landscape in the country would be transformed at a cost of Rs 850 billion. He said in2013 the length of motorway in the country was 580 km, and by 2018 it would be extended to 1800 km. He said under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Khunjerab was being connected to Gwadar. Gwadar-Sohrab 650 km long road would be completed this year.

Lowari Tunnel would completed by first quarter of 2017 and the 10 km long tunnel would link Chitral to the rest of the country.He said a saving of Rs 284 billion has been made in the national exchequer in various projects.He said after completion there would be complete North South Motorway Link. He said the NHA would also strengthen East West Connectivity through Baluchistan and extend across all
Provinces Including the Gilgit Baltistan. To a question he said upgradation of road furniture was underway and the NHA has targeted to reduce the ratio of traffic accidents by one-third.

The Chairman NHA said black spots at the road networks were being identified and the Authority had allocated Rs one billion for road safety.To a question, he said with Rs 950 billion debt the NHA had total assets of Rs 3.3 trillion. He said the Western route of CPEC has been bifurcated into six sections. Work on 200 km Gwadar-Hoshab section has been completed, while Sohrab-Hoshab section is 450 km.

Work on Zhob-Mughalkot-DI Khan section has also been launched, he added. The Chairman NHA said that there would be no compromise on the transparency of projects.