PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan on Monday said that his party, when it was in power, had signed about 31% cheaper LNG contacts than the PML-N government, which would save Pakistan $3 billion in the next ten years.
Khan was responding to PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who in a press conference said the PTI government was responsible for the country’s ill economy and current energy crisis.
ملاحظہ فرمائیں، حقیقت پر مبنی بجلی اور گیس کے متعلق ایک ویڈیو بیان- امپورٹڈ حکومت اپنی نااہلی چھپانے کے لئے غلط بیانی اور جھوٹ بول کر عوام کو گمراہ کرنے کی ناکام کوشش کر رہیں ہیں۔ #امپورٹڈ_حکومت_نامنظور pic.twitter.com/31XgAeHBgz
— Omar Ayub Khan (@OmarAyubKhan) June 6, 2022
In an audio message posted on his Twitter account, Khan said, “This useless and incompetent government runs on assumptions only. People are suffering from load-shedding because the ‘imported government’ is not releasing money to the power plants.”
Read more: Pakistan-Russia in talks over LNG deal
The former minister claimed that the PML-N government is incurring high expenditures and lacks strategy.
He said the country is facing 8,800MW of power shortfall, contradicting Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s claim that the shortage was about 4,000MW.
However, A Dawn report revealed that the government’s claim contradicted the date according to which ten distribution companies (Discos) of ex-WAPDA faced over 7,440MW shortfall on Monday.
He said the incumbent government has failed, and it should resign and give a call for a new election.
During a press conference on Monday, PML-N leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the government had taken steps to reduce power shortfall to three-and-a-half hours by Tuesday.
Abbasi said the country’s electricity demand has exceeded 25,000MW during the summer. He said when the PML-N government took charge; the electricity generation capacity was at 17,000MW.
Read more: Citizens report 14 hours loadshedding after new govt
“Today, we are producing 21,000MW which means we have a shortfall of 4,000MW,” the leader said.
He added that a little more than four hours of load-shedding would fill the supply and demand gap.
He said that by June 16, the duration of load-shedding will further reduce to less than three hours after coal is imported. “By June 30, it will be less than two hours.”
He went on to say that the government would be able to reduce this further during July.