PM wants outages minimised in extreme heat

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed to minimise power outages in different areas of the country by improving the situation of load management in extreme heat to facilitate the people.

Chairing a meeting here on Tuesday, the PM further said the elements involved in electricity theft would be dealt sternly, adding that the mission would be taken to logical conclusion and stealing of power would be completely eliminated from the country. He maintained that he would personally review the progress on prevention of electricity theft on a monthly basis.

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Minister for Petroleum Musaddik Malik, Minister for Power Awais Leghari, Minister of State Ali Parvaiz Malik, Coordinator to PM Rana Ehsan Afzal, the Wapda chairman and other officials attended the meeting. The provincial chief secretaries and inspectors general of police participated through video link.

Shehbaz said the provincial governments and law enforcement agencies should fully support the anti-electricity theft campaign. He said the national interest and the development and prosperity of the country require that all the government institutions perform their responsibilities effectively against electricity theft. He also instructed that there should be no overbilling. Besides, he advised to expedite the privatisation of power distribution companies and hire experts for the purpose.

The premier directed to prepare a strategy on the solarisation of tubewells in Balochistan at the earliest.

The meeting was briefed that a unanimous strategy has been evolved in the discussion among Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and the minister for power regarding the load management of electricity in the province.

Under the agreed upon strategy, power outages, collection of electricity bills from defaulters and line losses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be reduced.

The meeting was apprised that loadshedding is being carried out in areas where electricity theft and line losses are high, and recovery of bills is very low. It was said that the upgradation of South-North transmission line will improve the power transmission system.

The meeting was further informed that task forces are being constituted at the provincial and divisional levels to prevent power theft and their performance will be reviewed on weekly basis.

Separately, chairing a meeting to discuss the promotion of Pakistan-China cooperation, the prime minister, assuring all-out facilitation by his government, invited Chinese companies, particularly related to the textile sector, to establish their industry in Pakistan.

He said China was a key partner in Pakistan’s development. Pakistan desires to enhance cooperation with China in agriculture, information technology and energy besides enhancing its exports to China.

In the meeting, different ministries presented their proposals to promote the Pakistan-China economic relationship, a PM Office press release said.

The prime minister reiterated that the government would provide foolproof security to Chinese nationals working in Pakistan as a comprehensive security plan had already been formulated.

He told the participants of the meeting that the government was preparing for the second phase of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and hoped that with China’s cooperation, Gwadar Port would become a logistics hub.

He said that CPEC second phase would also feature the establishment of Agriculture Demonstration Zones and instructed the ministries to prepare for the launch of new projects with Chinese cooperation and enhancing business-to-business linkages. He told the meeting that China could also assist Pakistan in formulating a strategy to boost its exports.

Federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Jam Kamal Khan, Ahad Khan Cheema, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Attaullah Tarar, Dr Musaddik Malik, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Awais Ahmed Leghari, and Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, State Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Special Assistant to PM Tariq Fatemi, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Jahanzeb Khan and relevant senior officers attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, expressing his deep concerns over the disturbing developments in Rafah, the prime minister said that Pakistan strongly condemns Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment that led to heavy casualties. “It is deplorable that international law is being repeatedly violated, despite ICJ’s recent clear verdict against Israel,” he said in a post on ‘X’.

The prime minister stressed that the international community, particularly the UN, must play its part in protecting civilians from such brutal aggression.

Separately, in a statement, the prime minister welcomed the announcement by his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez to formally recognise Palestine as a state.

Shehbaz said that the recognition of Palestine as a state by Spain was a positive development in the international scenario which also manifested the rejection of Israeli barbarism against the unarmed Palestinians by the Spanish people and their Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

He strongly condemned the recent unprovoked Israeli bombing of Rafah which martyred another 45 Palestinian people and reiterated his call for an immediate end to the genocide of Palestinian population being carried out by Israel.

He reiterated Pakistan’s resolve to continue extending moral, political and diplomatic support to the Palestinian people till the establishment of an independent Palestine state with Quds Al Sharif as its capital.