Pakistan Orders All Steel Mills Shut For 2 Weeks - Drought, Sabotage Cut Electricity - Khaleej Times

[hatrack]

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has shut all steel melting units across the country for two weeks and ordered hundreds of textile mills to reduce operations to cope with an acute power shortage, a government official said on Saturday. All business and shopping centres have also been told to close early.

Pakistan is suffering a power deficit of up to 3,600 MW due to low water levels at major reservoirs and damage to two main power lines inflicted during the violence that erupted after opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed on Dec. 27. ”All steel melting units will remain closed for two weeks,” said Tahir Basharat Cheema, a senior official at state-owned Pakistan Electric Power Company. “The government has also told textile mills to close operations for five hours in the evening.”

Cheema said water levels have fallen by up to 32 percent in comparison to last year’s level, badly effecting the country’s generating capacity. Pakistan’s current installed capacity is around 19,845 MV, of which around one-third is hydro-electric. Much of the rest is thermal, fuelled primarily by gas and oil.

$2 billion in losses

Two main power transmission lines were blown up on Jan. 1 in Sindh, creating a shortfall of 1,000 MW. Cheema could not say whether the sabotage was linked to the violence that shook the country after Bhutto’s assassination.

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