Load-shedding to be controlled in 18 months: Secy
By Khalid Amin

ISLAMABAD—Federal Secretary for Water and Power, Muhammad Ismail Qureshi has said that load-shedding would be controlled completely in 18 months while 1000 megawatt electricity would be imported from Tajikistan with the cooperation of Islamic Bank.
Addressing the 7th session of Expert Meeting of Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) here, Muhammad Ismail Qureshi has said that the feasibility report of the project is being finalized and the work would be started till 2009. NESPAK would prepare Engineering Structure, however, the route has not been finalized yet, he added. Besides representatives from the Members countries, high officials of Ministry of Water and Power, DG NESPAK and Director Energy ECO Ali Khan were also present on the occasion.
Federal Secretary for Water and Power further said that 7 percent growth rate would be achieved till 2009.
Urging the enhancement in the cooperation in the energy sector among the member countries of ECO, Muhammad Ismail Qureshi said that Combine Power System is needed to control the on-going power crises. The on-going power crises would be controlled to some extent in the current month, he added.
Giving explanation for on-going power crises in the country, Federal Secretary for Water and Power has said that the load-shedding started due to gap in the production and demand besides, the water crises. The country is facing 1500 to 2000 megawatt electricity shortage and an effective strategy has to be adopted to meet the electricity demands, he added.
Director General NESPAK, Karamat Ullah Chaudhry while addressing on the occasion said that NESPAK is providing its service to ECO countries in the Engineering and Agriculture sector while the Ministry of Water and Power would continue its on-going cooperation in the preparation of Structural Design and feasibility report of the other projects. He highlighted the steps taken so far to realize this goal. He said the objective of the interconnection of power systems was aimed at sharing the energy recourse among ECO member states which would enhance economic and industrial developments of the region.
Director Energy, Minerals and Environment of the Secretariat AH Khanbutayev also addressed the participants of the meeting being hosted by the Ministry of Water and Power.
Realizing the tremendous potential that exists for trans-border trade in electricity, the ECO launched a study on examining the technical and economic feasibility of integrating and harmonizing power systems of member states in August 2005.
The Council of Permanent Representatives of ECO designated Pakistan as the coordinating country for the project.
The study which is being carried out by M/s NESPAK, under the financing of the Islamic Development Bank would be completed by the end of this year. The contracted amount of consultancy services is $ 406,000.
Institute of Energy and Communications of the Kyrgyz Technical University have also been taken on board as sub-contractor to facilitate collection of data from Central Asia.
The consultants’ scope of work includes collection of data on power generation from all member states, power supply and demand analysis, computer simulations of power systems of ECO countries, development of interconnection options, and a comparative analysis of their economic feasibility.
The main purpose of the feasibility study is to find out the possibilities of interconnection of ECO countries power systems, considering the existing situation of the power systems of member states, the prospective for the future, bilateral or multilateral interconnection projects, already under progress among member states, and the existing and planned interconnections of member states with non-ECO member power systems.