ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for water and power Khawaja Asif said that Kalabagh dam is very vital for national development but it is victim of politics.
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for water and power Khawaja Asif said that Kalabagh dam is very vital for national development but it is victim of politics.
“Kala Bagh dam is very vital for national development but it has become victim of politics. Gen Zia and Gen Musharraf should have worked on convincing others for construction of this project”, he said this in an interview with BBC
He held one main reason behind load shedding is its wastage adding that no one including government or public paid any attention towards power conservation.
He underlined that load shedding will be eliminated completely this year from the country..“If our people use electricity in a right way instead of wasting it then we can save 3 to 4000 mega watts of it but no one ever paid any attention towards this matter”, he added.
He went on to say that load shedding would continue in those areas wherein consumers didn’t pay their regular bills.
There are certain areas where 20 hours load shedding is being carried out because more than 90 per cent of residents of such areas have not paid their bills, he remarked.
When government came in power then one its main goal was to minimize the difference between power supply and demand, he held.
Government have recovered 27 billion from Sindh government in power tariff while there are no issues in recovery from Punjab and K-P, however issue of non payment is still there in Balochistan, he observed. .
Minister said our government had paid 480 billion against circular debt ever since it had come to power. However circular debt has touched the mark of Rs 360 billion now, he added. The reason behind such amount of circular debt is unrealistic tariff and less subsidy.
While talking on Kala Bagh Dam project minister said this project is suffering of politics though it is a project for country’s progress. Dictators of that time including Zia Ul Haq and Musharraf should have to work on it because a dictator doesn’t need any votes to construct a project and they were more cared about public opinion as compared to politicians.