PTI, Islamabad :
Pakistan government has claimed that it has lined up USD 58 billion investment in its troubled power sector till 2022 and hoped that the power crisis in the country would end by 2018.
This was stated by the Minister for Water and Power Khwaja Asif on Thursday at a briefing organised by Prime Minister Office on the completion of three years of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, the Dawn newspaper reported on Friday.
Asif said USD 58 billion worth of investment in the power sector was expected for generation of 30,948 MW by 2022 and the power crisis would completely wipe out in 2018.
Power Secretary Younas Dagha said under the 10,400 MW portfolio of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor 8,630 MW were currently under execution phases.
Asif said wastage of energy was a serious issue in Pakistan and the government was “getting absolutely no support from the provinces including from Punjab for energy conservation and closure of markets at sunset”.
He said that Pakistan was blessed with a lot of sunshine, but the nation was doing business in electric lights. “This is sad,” he said.
Power cuts are common in Pakistan because of electricity shortages.
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project was still facing two major issues to take off.
Explaining this, he said international sanctions against Iran had eased but “dollar transactions are still not allowed”, making it difficult to have normal business transactions with Tehran.
Responding to a question why such restrictions did not work against the European Union (EU), Abbasi said the EU had only a one-off transaction with Iran while the Iran-Pakistan pipeline project was a long-term arrangement for 20 years which could be affected in case of application of snap-back clause.
Pakistan government has claimed that it has lined up USD 58 billion investment in its troubled power sector till 2022 and hoped that the power crisis in the country would end by 2018.
This was stated by the Minister for Water and Power Khwaja Asif on Thursday at a briefing organised by Prime Minister Office on the completion of three years of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, the Dawn newspaper reported on Friday.
Asif said USD 58 billion worth of investment in the power sector was expected for generation of 30,948 MW by 2022 and the power crisis would completely wipe out in 2018.
Power Secretary Younas Dagha said under the 10,400 MW portfolio of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor 8,630 MW were currently under execution phases.
Asif said wastage of energy was a serious issue in Pakistan and the government was “getting absolutely no support from the provinces including from Punjab for energy conservation and closure of markets at sunset”.
He said that Pakistan was blessed with a lot of sunshine, but the nation was doing business in electric lights. “This is sad,” he said.
Power cuts are common in Pakistan because of electricity shortages.
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project was still facing two major issues to take off.
Explaining this, he said international sanctions against Iran had eased but “dollar transactions are still not allowed”, making it difficult to have normal business transactions with Tehran.
Responding to a question why such restrictions did not work against the European Union (EU), Abbasi said the EU had only a one-off transaction with Iran while the Iran-Pakistan pipeline project was a long-term arrangement for 20 years which could be affected in case of application of snap-back clause.
