The PPP government has agreed to two-day a week gas loadshedding to industrial units. This is not being done in the so-called larger interest of the country, but it is aimed at reducing power loadshedding by diverting the gas supply to IPPs and forestalling criticism of the government in the coming months when gas supplies are low. This is being done to avoid public’s wrath over post-December power loadshedding.
The expensive RPPs are also being installed for that purpose. In the cabinet meeting which sanctioned the RPPs, the finance minster said that the country’s fragile economy could not sustain this expenditure, but his advice fell on deaf ears. The water and power minister warned the cabinet about the reaction of the public which could shake the government. The prime minister chose to save the PPP government and gave a go-ahead to the RPPs. This was exactly what Benazir Bhutto did when she rejected the Kalabagh dam and went for the IPPs. The power produced by the IPPs was meant for electrification of villages, and not for boosting industry and agriculture. It’s time the ruling party took critical decisions to end the power crisis on a permanent basis.
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