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06-05-2017, 04:12 AM
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Failure to end loadshedding may lead to early elections
 Abid Sher Ali insists ** early polls; claims problem will be over by March 2018 ISLAMABAD: Doubts about the end of loadshedding in 2018 may force the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to go for early elections. Government’s deputy power minister Abid Sher Ali, however, rules out any such possibility insisting that the government will completely overcome the loadshedding problem by March 2018. He said that the ruling party would want to go into elections after fulfilling its promise of ending the loadshedding. The scale of loadshedding during the present summer has created serious doubts that this problem will end next year. In such a scenario, the PML-N's 2018 election campaign will be seriously dented. On Saturday, the government claimed to have produced record electricity (more than 19,000 MW), yet the loadshedding haunted people all around the country. In case the government completes its tenure, then the next elections will be held in July-August 2018 -- which is the peak summer season when the demand for electricity touches its climax. loadshedding during the months of election campaign would mean a serious dent to PML-N's popularity. Mostly, the PML-N leaders are consistent in their view that the government will complete its term and thus the elections will be held in 2018. However, there are some Leaguers who are concerned about the prevailing power shortage situation in the country and believe that in order to avoid the loadshedding threat to the party’s next year’s election campaign, the option of holding an early election should be considered. Going for elections in Feb-March 2018, it is said, could be a safe bet for the PML-N. When contacted, Abid Sher Ali told The News that the government will complete its term and there is ** question of going for early elections. He said that the loadshedding will end by March 2018 and the PML-N would want to go into the elections only after fulfilling its promise. To a question, Abid Sher Ali said that **t only by March 2018 the production of electricity would be more than the demand but the distribution and transmission system would also be upgraded to meet the goal of ending loadshedding. The deputy power minister’s claim sound too optimistic in view of the ongoing power loadshedding problem faced by the entire country. Although, many are uncertain that the government will end the loadshedding in 2018, what is more important is the fact that Nepra too has its doubts. According to a media report, Nepra in **vember last year said that most transmission lines and grid system improvement projects were moving “significantly behind schedule”. “Most ... developmental works of [the] NTDC [National Transmission and Dis***** Company] are delayed. Commitment charges are being paid due to delay in execution of projects ... a drain on public exchequer,” said the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) in its special “Visit Report”. According to the regulator, the transmission system should be in place six months before commercial operation of power plants to ensure seamless testing and its eco**mic benefit during the testing phase, but major transmission lines and transformation system projects are behind schedule by six months to three years. “It means that about 4,500MW of additional power generation capacity would be available in 2017-18, but sufficient transmission facilities would **t be there to effectively absorb it, resulting in its dispersal on unreliable alternate lines. The shortfall would, therefore, come under control in major load centres of Punjab but loadshedding would **t completely end in the whole of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan,” said the media report. The report added that major generation projects like the 1,320MW coal project at Port Qasim, 1,320MW Si**-Sindh Resources, 660MW Engro Thar Coal and 1,320MW Jamshoro Coal were scheduled to reach the production stage before June 2017, but enabling conversion, switching and transmission systems would **t be completed before June 2018. أكثر... ??????? ??????: Failure to end loadshedding may lead to early elections || ??????: ahlam1399 || ??????: اسم منتداك
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