KARACHI’S nightmare continues. The largest city in the country, dubbed the financial capital of Pakistan, continues to struggle with a longstanding and seemingly never-ending electricity crisis. Amidst the sweltering heat, load-shedding is at an all-time high. To add to the predicament, the suspension of electricity supply to pumping stations has given rise to a water shortage in the city.
Karachi Electric is now rightly considered as a bane. Over the years, the private power utility has been able to do little to resolve the city’s electricity problems, and instead, has persistently failed to deliver and meet Karachi’s electricity needs of 3,400 megawatts. A spokesperson of the Power Ministry said the other day that the KE system constraints are hurdle in taking additional 500MW from national grid offered by federal government. It clearly indicates that system up-gradation on the part of KE has not taken place at the appropriate level and with appropriate investment. Then the Utility reportedly continues to rely on cheap sources for electricity generation despite having the resources to invest in better means of production. While a KE spokesperson attributed the electricity crisis to the shortage of furnace oil and gas, the Sui Southern Gas Company claimed that it has, in fact, increased the gas supply to the Utility from 190mmcfd to 240mmcfd, keeping in view the problems being faced by Karachiites. We understand that this is no time for indulging in blame game but do the needful to end the miseries of the people at the earliest. One must not forget how the heat waves claimed lives in the past in Karachi. Then the prolonged outages have also disrupted business activities. We, therefore, will urge the federal government to sit with the management of KE to find an immediate solution. The utility’s fuel demands should be fulfilled. It is also for the KE to address its system constraints and embark upon the upgradation plan to meet the electricity requirements of the city. Being the regulatory, the NEPRA must also fulfil its responsibility in the current situation.
