Power supply to Turbat, Panjgur and Gwadar districts of Pakistan’s Makran division has been badly affected after Iran suspended power supply to these areas, Dawn reported.
Power supply to Turbat, Panjgur and Gwadar was badly affected on Sunday and the situation remained the same on Monday. As per the news report, Iran supplies 100 Megawatt of electricity to the Makran division. A spokesperson for the Quetta Electricity Supply Company (Qesco) on Monday said that Iran’s energy officials restored only 20MW of power for Makran after Pakistan officials contacted them for power restoration, as per the Dawn report.
“When we contacted Iran’s energy officials, they restored only 20MW of power for Makran,” Dawn quoted a spokesman for the Quetta Electricity Supply Company (Qesco) as saying.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Afzal Baloch said that Makran is receiving only 20 MW out of 100 MW of electricity for the past 24 hours. Baloch stressed that Iranian officials have not given the reason for reducing 80 MW of electricity to Makran, as per the Dawn report.
“Makran is getting only 20MW out of 100MW electricity for the last 24 hours,” Dawn quoted Mohammad Afzal Baloch as saying.
Earlier on January 26, Gwadar Development Authority Director General Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Qambarani said that the region will receive 100 MW additional electricity from Iran from March 1, The News International reported. In a tweet, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman stated that Gwadar will receive a 24/7 power supply, which will help to boost industry, tourism and real estate business in Gwadar.
As per the news report, Pakistan and Iran signed an agreement for the supply of an additional 100 megawatts of electricity in June 2022. During his visit to Gwadar, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed concerned authorities to complete the project in a short period of time, as per The News International report.
In June last year, the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) approved a 132 kV transmission line from Jiwani to Gwadar, according to the news report. The government will spend Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 2,322.940 million for the construction of a transmission line from Jiwani to Gwadar. As per the news report, Gwadar is dependent on imported electricity from Iran.