The government has acknowledged its failure to end electricity outages during Sehr and Iftar, saying 20% to 30% areas are still facing power cuts because of a poor and defective transmission system.
“Pakistan has an old transmission system which was unable to deliver required electricity,” Abid Sher Ali, State Minister of Water and Power, told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Water and Power in a meeting chaired by Mohammad Arshad Khan Leghari.
“Sometimes our demand exceeds 15,000 megawatts, but the transmission infrastructure is unable to cope with this pressure, leading to breakdown of feeders.”
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) had also withdrawn funds approved for upgrading the power transmission system following failure of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) to utilise the money, he said.
Ali expressed fear that the entire transmission system would collapse if the government tried to avoid power cuts and ensure uninterrupted supply.
