Pakistani PM approves electricity import from India

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani gave a go-ahead on Tuesday for importing electricity from India.

An official said India had offered to sell about 500MW of electricity. It may materialise within a year by laying a transmission line. The facility in theory would have two-way electricity trade because of difference in peak-time demands in the two countries but given the continuous shortfalls in Pakistan, India would be the net exporter of electricity in foreseeable future, he said.

Gilani had expressed “deep concern” and “dissatisfaction” over long delays in the implementation of strategically important projects. It conceded that projects of about 3,945MW of electricity would not be completed within stipulated time.

Besides the 969MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project, the other major projects facing delays include 1,100MW Kohala Hydropower Project in Azad Kashmir, 425MW combined cycle project at Nandipur in Punjab and 1,450MW Tarbela Expansion Project.

The prime minister expressed satisfaction over the recent talks between experts of Pakistan and India on establishing back-to-back electricity grid between the two countries and said he was expected to meet his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the Saarc conference in the Maldives later this month in which he would take up the ‘mutually beneficial project’.

The prime minister said the “mismanagement must be checked to improve the efficiency of these projects as they are the lifeline of Pakistan’s economy” and added that in view of the escalating cost of thermal power projects, the only viable way was to start hydropower projects.

He also “expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in executing the Kohala Hydropower Project of 1100 MW generation capacity” and directed that it should be expedited so that the pre-project procedure could be completed by the end of this year.

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