Shahbaz for equal power distribution among provinces

ISLAMABAD – The participants of two-day Energy Summit, including the four Chief Ministers, stressed the need for removing all the impediments in the way of optimal production of power sector and called upon the top management of the power sector to commission all their energies and resources to steer the country out of the prevailing electricity crisis.
On the opening day of the conference, Punjab Chief Minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif came up with a nine-point formula including demand of equal distribution of power among the provinces, while Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Khan Raisani stressing the need for opting other sources of power generation like wind, tidal waves, coal and thermal. On short-term measures he suggested the Government must consider electricity purchase from Iran, which would be of great help in bridging the mounting power deficit.
Addressing on the inaugural session of the two-day conference presided over by Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf here on Monday, the Punjab Chief Minister stressed the need for immediate as well as long-term measures such as construction of new water reservoirs for overcoming power shortage.
The nine-point formula presented in the Chief Ministers conference on loadshedding in Islamabad envisaged equitable distribution of power among provinces, supply of electricity to industrial and agriculture sector on priority basis, complete ban on billboards, construction of Bhasha Dam, production of energy from coal, use of sugarcane trash (bagasse) for power generation, simplifying the official procedure for electricity generation projects in private sector, use of canal water for power generation as well as launching of a countrywide movement for energy conservation.
He said that public money was wasted ruthlessly and human blood was shed callously in Musharraf era but criminal negligence was shown towards such vital projects as Bhasha Dam. He said that had Bhasha Dam been constructed, the nation would not have been facing the prevailing excruciating situation. He said that the people could rightly question what the government had done during the last two years to tackle energy crisis. He said that on one hand energy was not available, while on the other there were reports of a further raise in power tariff under the pressure of IMF, the burden of which would be shifted to the consumers.

Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/20-Apr-2010/Shahbaz-for-equal-power-distribution-among-provinces