Water and power supply situation shows progress

Energy Minister Hammad Azhar said that the government added 1,200MW of electricity to the national grid. The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) reported 385,000 cusecs water flow in rivers and dams. Increasing the water and power supply.

In the past, the country’s chronic power crisis frequently triggered protests. The violent consequences in summers, but the incumbent government claims to have overcome the shortages; by setting up of several power projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The energy minister attributed the current phase of load-shedding to a technical issue at a major hydroelectric power plant and outages at a few thermal power plants. However, he added that the outages didn’t mean the country doesn’t have surplus electricity.

According to experts, the demand for electricity is much higher compared to the projections of the government. “We have witnessed approx 15-20% more peak demand in power compared to last year,” Hammad Azhar wrote on his official Twitter handle.

He said that the government has added 1,200MW of electricity to the national grid today [Thursday] and another 1,000MW will be added tomorrow. That should eliminate most problems, adding that an extra 350 to 550MW electricity supplied to the K-Electric too.

Water position at different dams is the key to generating hydel power. The Irsa said on Thursday that glaciers melting because of the rising temperatures had improved the water situation, even creating floods in some rivers and canals in upcountry areas.

“The temperature in Skardu was at 33° Celsius. The heatwave in Skardu and other parts of the northern areas increased the glacier melting process,” the Irsa said. Hence, it added, the flow of water in the Indus River at Besham has reached 229,000 cusecs.