KARACHI – Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the provincial government has worked out a plan to install 1200MW LNG-based power plant in Karachi for which federal government should allocate gas quota.
He was talking to Prime Minister Shahid Khakan Abbasi whom he called on at PM Secretariat on Tuesday.
The chief minister discussed various issues going on between Sindh and federal government with the Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
A statement issued by CM House Karachi says that the meeting between the two was held in a cordial atmosphere in which various issued of the province with centre were discussed threadbare.
The chief minister told the prime minister that Karachi Circular Railway project is most important for the people Karachi. It has been cleared from CDWP and just for its approval from ECNE is facing bureaucratic red-tapism and moving from one office to the other. “I want to start the KCR project by the end of December, therefore it needs to be approved at the earliest and the same may also be sent to Chinese authorities for it formal inclusion in the CPEC,” he said.
The prime minister assured the chief minister that he would personally get it approved. He added that it has already been included in the CPEC projects.
Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also took up the issue of prolonged loadshedding in Sindh. He told the prime minister that his government has planned to install a 1200MW power project in Karachi on LNG. “I would be thankful if you [PM] issue necessary instructions to the Petroleum ministry to approve LNG quota for the project. This would help to get the project approved from CDWP and to tariff for it,” he said and added the Sindh government would be in need of prime minister’s full support and help for NOC and fixation if tariff by Nepra.
The prime minister said he would encourage installation of power plants. He added that loadshedding was a national problem and he would help provinces to install their power plants.
The other issue the chief minister took up with the prime minister was of abandoned small power plants installed in different districts of the province. The Nepra had decided their tariff when they were being installed but latter on it backed out from its earlier decision. Therefore, the private companies which had installed small power plants have abandoned them.
The chief minister requested the prime minister to intervene into the matter personally and get the tariff decided. This would help to reduce loadshedding locally. The prime minister assured the chief minister of his support to resolve the issue. The chief minister also urged the prime minister to resolve natural gas issue in the province.
This article was published in The Nation on August 23, 2017.