Category: Shortcode

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Pakistan’s government to renegotiate the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) energy deals before making payments of around Rs300 billion to the Chinese power plants, putting Islamabad in a tight spot. The global lender has asked the government to treat the Chinese CPEC power plants at par with the power plants established under the 1994 and 2002 power policies, highly placed sources told The Express Tribune. These plants had been set up under the CPEC framework agreement. The IMF’s demand came after China’s refusal in…

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The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday sought power purchase agreements with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) signed by previous governments. Noor Alam Khan chaired the meeting of the committee which examined the Audit Report of the Cabinet Division for the year, 2019-20. The chairman committee said the tariff on electricity came down when demand increased but in Pakistan, the position was the opposite. He asked how they would run the industry without the supply of electricity. Chairman and Members committee complained about the load-shedding and the inflated electricity bills. National…

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Pakistan is reverting back to a five-day work week in an effort to reduce energy and fuel consumption as its energy crisis worsens in the very hot summer months. The new government of Pakistan—whose population is the fifth largest in the world after China, India, the United States, and Indonesia—introduced a six-day work week in April to increase productivity. But as rolling blackouts continue amid an energy shortage, Pakistan is now going back to the five-day work week, government officials said this week. “We are facing a severe crisis… We…

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The production of oil and gas dropped 2.5 percent and 3.7 percent respectively in the first eleven months of this fiscal year, The News learnt on Wednesday, mainly owing to eroding reserves and suspension of pumping at some fields for yearly overhaul According to the data obtained by The News, indigenous crude oil output fell to average 73,668 barrels per day in July-May of current fiscal year compared to the average 75,548 barrels per day the country produced in the same months of the last year. The production of oil…

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The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday sought a report from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on agreements signed with independent power producers (IPPs). At a meeting held at the Parliament House, the PAC discussed audit paras related to authorities working under the administrative control of Cabinet Division. Briefing the committee, Nepra chairman Tauseef Farooqi said the country had the capacity to produce 41,000 megawatts of electricity. He said the current power outages in the country were due to insufficient supply of oil to power generating plants. PAC…

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