Country faces 2500-MW power shortfall: WAPDA

ISLAMABAD—Chairman WAPDA Shakeel Durrani has said country is facing 2500 megawatt power shortage adding gap between supply and demand of electricity is the major cause of this shortfall.
He said this in his exclusive interview with Online Thursday. He told water inflow in Tarbela and Mangla was very low and water flow has reached dead level there.
Power demand was on rise in proportionate to rapid economic growth, he told. 2200-megawatt electricity would be generated within the next 12 months, he pointed out. Gap between demand and supply of power would continue till the next two years, he added. Water inflow in dams was recorded 60000 cusecs last year and now it had dropped to 19000.
He went on to say IPPs agreements had saved the country from power crisis. Had these agreements been not carried out, the country would have landed in power crisis, he held.
1450-megawatt electricity was being generated at Ghazi Barotha dam, he said adding work was underway on the projects for generation of 25000-megawatt electricity. Feasibility of several such projects had been completed, he pointed out. Work has started on Neelum Jhelum project to generate 950-megawatt electricity, he added. This project would be completed by June next year, he indicated. The projects including Bhasha dam, Sabakzai dam and Munda dam would be completed by 2015, he added.
To a question he said Thermal power was very costly and the consumers could not afford it. The production cost of hydropower per unit is Rs 1.90 and cost of Thermal power per unit stands at Rs 8
With the completion of ongoing power projects, electricity would be available to consumers at lower tariff, he underlined.—Online