Pakistan releases $253M to end unscheduled loadshedding

The government of Pakistan released Rs23 billion or US$253 million to clear a part of circular debt to end at least the unscheduled loadshedding.

This happened after strong protests in parliament and on the street against frequent and prolonged power outages.

Minister of State for Water and Power Tasneem Qureshi informed the Senate that about Rs23 billion was being released to substantially reduce the duration of loadshedding. The money will be paid directly to independent power producers and Wapda’s generation companies for onward payment to the Pakistan State Oil for the purchase of fuel.

Mr Qureshi regretted that some political parties were exploiting the situation to achieve political mileage. He said it was not merely a problem of the Karachi Electricity Supply Company but a nationwide issue.

Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar denied reports that his ministry was taking over the KESC because of its failure to meet contractual obligations and said the ministry had no authority to directly take over the company. “The authority lies with Nepra which is somehow reluctant to do it because it thinks it could be easily challenged in court,” he said.

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