Islamabad: Power goes off during signing of electricity agreement with China
Even the Minister for Water and Power had to face power cut in the meeting.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – In a ceremony regarding power generation agreement with China in Islamabad today (Wednesday), electricity went off not once but twice, plunging the conference hall into darkness for few minutes.
Reportedly, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Chinese officials had to wait till restoration of electricity. The minister reviewed agreement papers through mobile’s torch light.
TWO COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS
The agreement was signed between China Power Hub Generation Company, Private Power Infrastructure Board and Central Power Purchasing Agency.
As per deal, a coal-fired power plant will generate 1320 megawatts of electricity in Hub whereas 330 megawatts coal-fired power plant will be built in Thar.
Speaking to reporters, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif said the government has achieved another milestone of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) today. Both power projects will be completed in 2019.
The minister further stated that Nandipur power plant is generating 430MW electricity, whereas, its capacity would increase to 525MW by April.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif rode to power in 2013 on a promise to fix the electricity crisis, but the government still struggles to provide power to the domestic consumers and industries.
Nawaz Sharif has vowed many times in his addresses that all scheduled outages would end before the next election, likely to be in May, 2018. His office said generation would hit 26,000 MW, a 3,000 MW surplus.
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