Electricity demand surged 38 per cent in April: Senate body told.

ISLAMABAD -- The Senate Standing Committee on Power on Wednesday was informed that the demand for electricity has increased by 38 per cent in April as compared to the previous year.

The Committee which met with Saifullah Abro in the Chair was further told that Pakistan's power generation capacity was about 38,000 MW, but due to non-supply of fuel and RLNG, many power generation plants have been shut down.

The country's current power generation was about 18,500 MW, the Additional Secretary Power Division told the committee.

The chairman of the committee said that while procuring RLNG, care should be taken to deal with suppliers who did not default when there was price hike.

He said that the amount of performance guarantee should be such that the supplier could not default.

The question raised by Senator Syed Muhammad Sabir Shah in the Senate session regarding heavy transmission lines passing through Ghazi Tehsil of Haripur District was discussed in detail.

The Additional Secretary informed the committee that as per the existing policy, the owners of the land through which the transmission lines pass were paid a reasonable lump sum amount.

He added that any construction near the transmission lines was prohibited.

Senator Syed Sabir Shah said that due to heavy transmission lines people's land becomes permanently useless on which they could neither do any construction nor the land could be used for agriculture. Authorities should buy the land from the people or pay a reasonable royalty to the people, he said.

Senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Niazi emphasized that the royalty should be paid in proportion to the revenue generated from electricity so that the people could have a source of regular income.

The Additional Secretary Power Division said that the existing law needed to be amended to introduce a new policy.

The chairman of the committee directed the concerned authorities to review the policy in this regard and submit suggestions in the next committee meeting.

The Additional Secretary Power Division gave a detailed briefing to the committee on the project for rehabilitation of licensed public sector power generation plants under GENCO Holding.

Explaining about the construction and repair of 747 MW (GT-14) plant, action against the concerned officers / personnel and BOD of GHCL and GENC0, the Additional Secretary Power Division said that in the light of the inquiry report, the Ministry has instructed that the CEO be suspended.

The chairman of...