To reduce the impact of dollar exchange rate on the electricity cost, the government has decided to ban the import of furnace oil and use locally produced furnace oil for power generation. As per the projections of the Ministry of Energy, for the upcoming summer season, locally produced furnace oil will be used for the power generation, Federal Minister for Power Division, Khurram Dastagir said in a press conference here.
“According to our existing calculations, we will not require to import furnace oil for next four months,” the minister said. Instead, furnace oil produced in the local refineries will be used for power generation, he added. The decision of using local furnace oil will minimize the impact of dollar exchange rate on the electricity prices,” the minister claimed. The minister claimed that this year there will be less loadshedding in the upcoming summer as compared to the previous one.
Khurram Dastagir said despite the financial crisis, the PDM government repaid $10 billion loan in one year. The minister said record loans were borrowed during the tenure of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the total country’s debt stood at over Rs 51,000 billion. Around 90 percent increase was witnessed in the debt and liabilities of the country during the PTI’s tenure, the minister added.
Replying to a question, he said the power supply situation would be far better during the summer as compared to the last year due to the better management. Around 2,000 MW of electricity had been added to the system in last 11 months from local Thar coal, he apprised. The minister said the use of local coal for power generation would also bring down the prices of electricity. Bidding for the first mega solar project would be opened on May 7, he added.
