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Friday, March 15, 2024

Hammad Azhar blames electricity shortfall on Iranian power supply

Minister of Energy Hammad Azhar took to Twitter to say that the increased load shedding in the Gwadar and surrounding region is due to a power shortfall in Iran, and has urged the Iranian Ambassador to resolve the issue at the earliest.

In his recent tweet, Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar blamed the electricity shortfalls in the Gwadar region on the Iranian power supply.

Talking about the power cuts in Pakistan’s South Western coastal regions he said, “Power shortfalls in Iran have led to load shedding in our Gwadar, Turbat & Makraan regions. These areas are not connected to the national grid & dependant upon Iranian power supply.”

He added that the government has taken up the issue with the Iranian govt and requested them to normalize the power supply.

In a succeeding tweet, he said, “Work is also in progress on connecting these areas with the national grid. This involves laying transmission lines for hundreds of kilometers. This project will be completed within 2 years InshAllah.”

More than an hour later, the Ministry of Energy also tweeted from its official account saying that the Minister of Energy Hammad Azhar has called the Iranian ambassador, and discussed the load shedding in some areas of Balochistan due to a power shortfall in Iran.

The tweet added that the minister urged him to restore power in Balochistan as soon as possible, and the Iranian ambassador assured that the power would soon be restored to the affected areas.

The Iranian government is taking steps to restore power soon, the Iranian ambassador said

Not much far back, on 6th July too, the Iranian authorities stop­ped the supply to Makran division, including Gwadar, through its 132KV Jekigor transmission line due to maintenance work.

Read More: Just how much of Iranian national security is compromised?

Iran to give more energy to Pakistan

On 13th July, the Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini announced that Iran is ready to deliver more electricity to Pakistan and necessary infrastructure in this regard is being built to support this project.

According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, Iran is ready to export up to 3000 MW of energy to Pakistan.

The ambassador said this in a meeting with Energy Minister Hammad Azhar while discussing bilateral cooperation between two neighbors.

Azhar had highlighted the importance of electricity import from Iran to the Gwadar Port and the Makran region in the meeting.

About 19 years ago in 2002, Iran and Pakistan signed the first agreement on the import of 34 MW of electricity, later which was increased to 74 MW, and now this figure has reached 104 MW.

In 2018, it was announced that a 220 kV transmission line is under construction in the area of ​​Chabahar, which, if completed, could increase electricity import to Pakistan and the port of Gwadar in Balochistan to 300 MW.

Read More: Iran hosts intra-Afghan peace meeting

At present, Pakistan imports 104 MW of electricity through a 132 kV transmission line that runs from Jakigur, Sistan-Balouchestan, Iran, to the Mand region of Pakistan.