KE chief blames govt. for not approving 700MW plant in 2016

The chief executive of K-Electric, Moonis Alvi has blamed the former PMLN government for the electricity crisis in the metropolis on Wednesday saying that if the former government had approved a new 700MW power plant back in 2016, Karachi’s power supply would have been better.

“In 2016, the power plant project had a set back due to technical reasons,” Alvi said. He explained that the power supply company was asked to focus on power generation using the local variant of coal, whereas the “system” was designed for the use of imported coal.

“It takes two-and-a-half to three years to set up a new power plant, he added.

He said that nonetheless, KE’s system had “upgraded” in the last three years.

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The chief executive said that Karachi is facing an extended loadshedding as the demand for power “rises” in the current season, adding that “even the exempted areas are facing power outages”.

Alvi said the “faults” in system must not be considered loadshedding. “No power cuts took place between March 20 and May 28 when a lockdown was in place”.

While talking about the cable operators token strike against KE, he claimed that the power utility company had not cut any cable during the last 15-18 days.

A day earlier, the cable operators claimed that cable wires were being “constantly” cut by the KE.