PM Shehbaz informed more than two dozen power plants non-functional

Power plants inoperable due to fuel shortages, technical problems

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been apprised on Thursday that 27 power plants with a combined generation potential of over 7,000 megawatts are non-functional due to technical problems or fuel shortages.

The Energy Ministry presented the list of these power plants during a briefing and blamed a lack of direction and political support for fuel arrangements.

It was revealed that nine major power plants with a generation potential of 3,535MW were not operational due to fuel shortages. Four plants are non-functional due to LNG shortage, two due to furnace oil shortage, one because of lower coal inventories and another due to the expiry of a gas supply agreement.

Moreover, 18 other plants were offline due to technical faults and lack of maintenance. Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi highlighted a complete lack of coordination among the petroleum and power divisions of the energy ministry. He suggested that the matter be addressed on priority basis instead of wasting time in the blame game.

PM Shehbaz called on Abbasi to step up and advise the two divisions in this regard.