Pakistan seeks China’s help to handle smog-related power breakdowns

APD NEWS

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By APD Writer Muhammad Sohail

**ISLAMABAD, Nov. 8 (APD) ** -- Pakistan has sought technical help from China to tackle the repeated power breakdowns caused by dense smog the country facing these days, the Minister for Power said on Wednesday.

Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Minister of Water and Power, said that the country’s facing unscheduled load-shedding due to a number of tripping triggered by smog in the transmission and distribution network.

Leghari said that a team of experts had been sent to China for studying the Beijing model of transmission so that effective measures could be taken in smog-hit areas under the line of guidance from Chinese experts.

Earlier a meeting presided over by the country’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was told that the most important 500KV and 220KV transmission lines, the backbone of the country’s national grid, suffered outages at 82 occasions over the last four days.

“Down the line, distribution companies’ (Discos) level 132KV transmission lines are also faced with the same kind of problems and their number is much higher”, the power division of the ministry said.

The official claimed that there is no power shortfall but they are now facing the challenge of repeated outages.

An official statement said that the prime minister “underscored the need for greater coordination among relevant departments and for advance planning to face any situation”.

It was noted that the recent power outage that affected parts of the country was triggered by the early advent of smog, which was unprecedented and was likely to continue due to the dry spell.

The minister said he has already issued a directive for taking immediate measures like installation of anti-smog and anti-fog discs at critical points to ensure uninterrupted power supply to consumers as there was no shortage of power generation in the country.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)