Daily Times cited Mr Raja Pervaiz Ashraf Pakistan’s federal minister for water and power as saying that over 2,500 MW of electricity from Independent Power Plants and Rental Power Plants would be added to the national grid within the next 3 months.

He said the media at the inauguration ceremony of the 200 MW Nishat power plants at Jambar that the government was taking effective steps to end the ongoing power crisis. He added that elaborate planning was being done to ensure the optimal use of coal, gas, wind, water and other renewable resources of energy to reduce the gap between the supply and demand of power.

Mr Ashraf said that the Pakistan Electric Power Company and the Planning Commission were jointly working on a pilot project in Sindh which would generate 50 MW of coal power and was expected to be completed within 8 months.

He said that the government of Pakistan had recently accepted an offer from a US delegation from their energy sector, for replacing engines at power plants. The US companies would help rehabilitate 5 public sector power plants in Pakistan.

Mr Ashraf said that different long and short term projects were under way to increase power generation and Nishat Power Plant was the clear manifestation of that. He said that the construction of Diamir Bhasa dam would be initiated 2010 while the Neelum Jhelum hydroelectric project was being executed at a fast pace.

(Sourced from Dailytimes.com)