The K-electric on Tuesday announced to extend the duration of load shedding in the mega city due to furnace oil shortage. The K-Electric spokesperson in a statement said that Karachi’s sole power distributor is facing continued challenges on account of inconsistent supply of furnace oil in line with its demand. “This current situation was further compounded late Friday night due to an unexpected technical fault at its Bin Qasim Power Station (BQPS)-1,” he added. The residents of Karachi continued facing long hours of load shedding amid scorching heat and Covid-19 pandemic. A 12-hour announced and unannounced load shedding in the metropolis has irked people of Karachi, especially the Covid-19 patients isolated at homes. The citizens have demanded of the federal and Sindh government to take notice of long hours of load shedding in Karachi amid the hot weather and Covid-19 pandemic. The K-Electric has failed to minimise the power shortages, compelling Karachiites to brave 5 to 6 hours long loadshedding daily. The power supply, the sources said, from Gul Ahmad and Tapal, the two Independent Power Producers (IPPs) were supplying only 50 and 60 MW respectively out of their total capacity of 90 MW. They said that the management seems not serious about the grave situation of power supply in the city. The sources also said that Abraaj Capital, the new management, had claimed investing Rs 31 billion in the public utility for the improvement of the power situation in the metropolis, but it has practically showed no progress in this regard so far. “The company has not received a single penny from the new management as investment so far,” they said. The company, sources said, was still not generating to full capacity from its Bin Qasim units and was using minimum fuel to save money. The current demand would have been easily met if the public utility had utilised the requisite furnace oil for power generation. There were reports of hours long power outages three to four times in a day in different areas of the metropolis, like Liaqatabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Johar, PIB Colony, Keamari, Sadar, MalirCantt, Shah Faisal Coloney, Lasbella, Tariq Road, Clifton, DHA, North Nazimabad, Korangietc , sources said.