ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan said on Tuesday that the price of electricity was Rs17 per unit during former premier Imran Khan’s stint in the office while it had now skyrocketed to Rs85 per unit, adding that 70pc of the power projects were using imported fuel. He made these remarks during a press conference alongside Opposition Leader in the Senate Shibli Faraz.
He slammed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for announcing Rs50 billion budget for the power sector by saying that he himself remained energy minister for quite some time, stressing that these hollow measures weren’t going to bring any substantial change.
“Shibli Faraz wrote a complete paper on the Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Electricity rate was Rs17 per unit when Imran Khan was prime minister. You have fixed rate of return in dollars. You should know who the culprit is,” he maintained.
He said that Pakistan’s capacity of power production was 43,000MW while its demand was gradually decreasing day by day as economy had gone into hibernation.
Speaking on the occasion, Shibli Faraz blamed the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for introducing IPPs and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for finalising contracts with the IPPs.
“They bought the most expensive power plants. Their generations will continue to benefit from these contracts and nation will bear the brunt,” he lamented.