KARACHI: (APP) Around 80 percent of the work of 1,320 megawatts Port Qasim Power Plant has been completed.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Water and Power, Abid Sher Ali here on Wednesday.
Talking to media persons after a visit to the plant, he said that the first phase of 620 megawatts would be ready by September this year and the second phase would completed in January 2018.
Abid Sher Ali was of the view that the work on the Port Qasim plant was going ahead at a faster pace.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has given 48 months' time for its completion whereas 80 percent of the work has been completed in a record time of a mere 21 months.
`
This would be the first power plant to be completed in a record time", he remarked.
The Minister of State further pointed out that a 280 meter jetty for the power plant has been completed in a shorter span of 10 months.
This revolutionary step has been undertaken by the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and that the credit for this goes to the present government, he added.
Abid Sher Ali said that the transmission work would be completed by May this year and that it would be linked with the national grid.
He informed that when the present government came to power, the electricity production was 13,000 megawatts and the present government enhanced the production and 17,000 megawatts electricity is being generated today.
The Minister of State pointed out that work is continuing on various power plants and the duration of loadshedding has reduced and that this will come down even further.
He that the governments that came to power after 1999 did not do anything for generation of electricity nor on transmission.
Today industries have been exempted from loadshedding and there is no loadshedding there. After the year 2018 there would be no loadshedding in the country, he declared.
Abid Sher Ali said that people would question those who had committed corruption and staged `Dharnas'.
`
We will seek votes from the people in the 2018 general elections on the basis of the performance of our government', he further remarked and added that on the basis of its performance the PML-N will also win seats from Sindh including Karachi.
The Minister of State said that Karachi is the hub and heart of Pakistan. The federal government has initiated Greenline Bus project and other projects for the people of this city.
He expressed sorrow over the recent incidents of terrorism in various parts of the country and expressed the resolve that the menace of terrorism would be eradicated.
To a question, he said that he would appeal to the Sindh government to clear its electricity dues.
Abid Sher Ali was critical of chairman PTI Imran Khan and added that he (Imran) was defending the wrong doing of Jehangir Tareen.