Share |

Share

The two-day Energy Conference under the chair of Prime Minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani to review the energy crises in the country has remained fruitless.

Prime Minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani asked all the participants to stay in Islamabad for next session while he also directed all the provincial governments and concerned ministries to complete their recommendations till Wednesday. The PM issued these directives after meeting all provincial chief ministers and federal ministers at the end of two-day energy conference on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister directed that no discrimination should be meted out to any area and sector while preparing recommendations to overcome the energy crisis. He thanked all the stakeholders including provincial governments and concerned departments for jointly working to overcome the energy problem. The recommendations would be approved on Thursday after taking into confidence all the stakeholders.

Sources said that the PM directed all the stakeholders to complete final recommendations till Wednesday as final approval would be announced on Thursday, and formulate a strategy to overcome the energy crisis. In order to provide relief to the masses short, medium and long terms action plans would be prepared, he added.

Federal Minister for water and power, Raja Pervez Ashraf while briefing the session said that Rs 95 billion were payable of state institutions to the power generation companies, which should be disbursed at the earliest.

The moot constituted four technical sub committees that would hold deliberations tomorrow in order to submit final recommendations. The recommendations to be firmed up by four technical sub committees shall be submitted by Minister for Water & Power to the Prime Minister for approval.

The four technical sub committees constituted by the National Energy conference are: Energy Conservation Committee; Capacity Additions Committee; Medium Term & Long Term Policy Measures Committee and a Special Committee to consider miscellaneous energy specific issues. The four technical sub committees comprise representatives from four Provincial Governments, Federal Government’s power and gas sector organizations and private sector representatives from trade, Chamber of Commerce and Industry. These Committees shall be convened by their respective conveners to meet on Wednesday and firm up their recommendations for final submission on the same day.

The reports of World Bank, Asian Development Bank, PEPCO, Thar Coal Energy Board, AEDB and other private sector stakeholders covering a range of energy specific issues currently affecting the economy and industry presented in the second day session.

The provinces and federation in the conference could not reach a consensus regarding two holidays in a week and closure of markets at 7 o’ clock. The provinces in the moot argued that akin method should be adopted for load shedding in rural, urban areas and housing societies.