President chairs a review meeting on energy situation
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday chaired a meeting at
Aiwan -e- Sadr, to review current energy situation and the progress made so far
on various initiatives undertaken by the government to overcome the power and
gas shortage in the country.The meeting was attended by Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar, Minister for Water & Power, Finance Minister Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Advisor to PM on Petroleum, Dr. Asim Hussain, Secretary General M. Salman Faruqui, Finance Secretary Abdul Wajid Rana, Secretary Water & Power, Ms Nargis Sethi and Secretary Petroleum & Natural Resources Dr. Waqar Masood.
Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar, Minister for Water & Power, briefed the meeting about the latest power situation in the country and the various measures taken by the government and said that power generation was steadily improving due to immediate steps taken by the government.
The meeting was informed that a special monitoring and control room had been set up in the Ministry of Water and Power which was overseen directly by the Secretary Water and Power Nargis Sethi.
Twice a day the Secretary Water and Power confers with the chief executives of distribution companies through tele conferencing for interactive briefing on the latest situation pertaining to availability and distribution of power and scheduled or unscheduled loadshedding in different parts of the country.
The chief executive officers have been directed to set up similar control and monitoring rooms in their offices for tele conferencing with field officers posted in different locations under their respective jurisdictions and on the spot decisions are taken to address the problems of supply and distribution of power to avoid bureaucratic delays, the meeting was appraised.
The meeting was also briefed on the visits undertaken by the Secretary Water and Power to various power stations in the country recently.
The President appreciated the latest measures for a hand on approach to the problem adopted by the Water and Power Ministry.
The meeting reviewed progress on Construction of Diamir Bhasha Dam and the efforts being made to garner finances for this important project.
The President said that construction of water reservoirs especially Diamir Bhasha Dam was crucial for the country to enhance its water storage capacity, which he said would help ensure food security and enhance agricultural productivity.
The President said that early completion of Diamer-Bhasha Dam would help ease water and energy problems of the country in view of its huge storage capacity and power generation to the tune of 4500 mega watt and urged for taking all possible steps to ensure timely completion of the multi propose project.
The meeting was also updated on construction of various other hydel power projects including Allai Khwar-Battagram, Jinnah Hydropower-Mianwali, Gomal Zam Dam-South Waziristan Agency, Satpara Dam-Skardu, Duber Khwar-Kohistan, Jabban Hydropower Malakand and Laraib Hydro power projects.
The President during the meeting also stressed for early completion of various projects aimed at exploiting coal, solar and wind energy which he said have great potential in meeting the energy crisis.
Advisor to PM on Petroleum, Dr. Asim Hussain briefed the meeting about the availability of gas and fuel for the power generation, progress on import of LNG and LPG and the Winter Gas Plan.
The President urged for ensuring uninterrupted supply of gas to domestic consumers in winter while framing the Winter Gas Plan.
The President also directed that he should be updated frequently about the energy situation and the implementation status of various measures in this regard.
Romney backs drones, aid strings in Pak
BOCA RATON: White House hopeful Mitt Romney said Monday he would maintain
drone strikes in Pakistan if he defeats President Barack Obama and impose
conditions on aid to the nuclear-armed nation.At the two men's final debate before November 6 elections, Romney largely embraced Obama's positions on Pakistan and, in a departure from his frequent criticism, said he did not blame Obama for troubled ties between the nations.
"It's widely reported that drones are being used in drone strikes, and I support that... entirely and feel the president was right to up the usage of that technology," Romney said at the debate in Florida.
Romney said he believed the United States should "continue to go after the people that represent a threat to this nation and to our friends." But he added: "We're going to have to do more than just going after leaders and killing bad guys, important as that is."
Obama, while rarely speaking publicly on drones, has stepped up strikes by the unmanned, remote-controlled weapons against Islamic extremists in areas of Pakistan where the government has limited control.
The drones have been deeply unpopular in Pakistan, where the government calls them a violation of sovereignty and opposition figures charge that the strikes breed more extremism by inadvertently killing civilians. The drone issue has further strained relations, which nosedived last year when Obama ordered a secret raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad.
Romney voiced concern about the Haqqani network, a militant group in Afghanistan that US officials have linked to Pakistan, and worried over the power of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. "It's a nation that's not like others and it does not have a civilian leadership that is calling the shots there," Romney said.
Asked by moderator Bob Schieffer if the United States should "divorce" Pakistan, Romney supported continued ties but -- in line with legislation approved by Congress -- called for more conditions on US assistance. "No, it's not time to divorce a nation on Earth that has 100 nuclear weapons and is on the way to double that at some point, a nation that has serious threats from terrorist groups within its nation," Romney said.
"But we do need to make sure that, as we send support for them, that this is tied to them making progress on matters that would lead them to becoming a civil society," he said.
US declines to comment on media reports
WASHINGTON: United States has declined to comment on Abbottabad
Commission report, saying that it would comment once the report get published.During a daily press briefing, US State Department's Spokesman Mark Toner said that the they have just seen reports in the Pakistani press about the Abbottabad Commission report.
Replying to a question, the spokesman said "we obviously share with the Government of Pakistan a profound interest in finding out what kinds of support networks bin Ladin might have had. So we believe such a report, when it does finally get finalized and published, that it's an -important for the American people and the Pakistani people to know."
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S.Arabia 25.69
U.K 154.38
Euro 125.67
U.A.E 26.23
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