Prime Minister chairs 15th meeting of Cabinet Committee on Energy

Islamabad, June 18, 2015 (PPI-OT): Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif chaired 15th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy at the PM House here today, which lasted for nearly four hours. The meeting was given a detailed briefing on Neelam Jhelum Power Project. The Prime Minister expressed his displeasure over the undue delays in this project which also resulted in increase in its cost.

The meeting decided to form a committee to look into the possibility of privatizing the project or entering into partnership with some investor to ensure its timely completion. The committee would be tasked to present its report within three months. It was also decided that the project must be completed by the first quarter of 2017.

Secretary Water and Power Mr. Younus Dagha updated the meeting on progress on ongoing power projects which are not part of CPEC including hydro, nuclear, LNG, wind and coal based projects. The meeting expressed the satisfaction that load shedding in the country is going as per the plan of around 6 hours in urban areas and around 8 hours in rural areas.

The Prime Minister directed that during the holy month of Ramazan there should be no load shedding from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm for Iftar and taraweeh and for Sehr there should be no load shedding one hour before and one hour after Sehr, while overall load shedding not to exceed the approved limit.

The meeting was attended by Mr. Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for Finance; Mr. Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjab; Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Petroleum; Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning; Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Minister for Railways; Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Water and Power; Jam Kamal Khan, MOS for Petroleum; Mr. Abid Sher Ali, MOS for Water and Power; Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to PM on National Security; Mr. Tariq Fatemi, SAPM on Foreign Affairs; Dr. Musadiq Malik, SAPM; Mr. Javed Aslam, Secretary to PM; Mr. Arshad Mirza, Secretary Petroleum; Mr. Mohammad Younus Dagha, Secretary Water and Power; Ms. Parveen Agha, Secretary Railways; Mr. Zafar Mahmood, Chairman WAPDA and Raja Hasan Abbas, Secretary Cabinet along with other senior government officials.

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