Islamabad; February 21, 2018: Standing Committee on Energy met under the Chairmanship Ch. Bilal Ahmed Virk, MNA in Committee Room No. 7, Parliament House, Islamabad, this afternoon.

The Committee after thorough discussion recommended the budgetary proposals relating to Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) of Power Division, Ministry of Energy amounting to Rs.193,730.550 million for the financial year 2018-19.

The Committee while discussing implementation of its previous recommendations related to Power Division directed for devising centralized procurement policy for procurement of material for electricity infrastructure development schemes. The Committee was apprised that development schemes being carried out under PM Sustainable Development Program were facing shortage of required material resulting in delay of their completion due to lengthy procurement procedures and limited number of suppliers of construction material.                                                                                                                          

The Committee while discussing recommendation of the committee regarding enhancement of quota of new domestic gas connections by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to meet the pending demand with Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), directed OGRA to expedite the matter in order to meet the public demand. The Chairperson OGRA apprised the Committee that the Authority had received petition of SNGPL for enhancement which was under consideration and decision thereon would be taken during a week time.

The meeting was attended by Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) MNAs; Malik Ihtebar Khan, Syed Muhammad Saqlain Shah Bukhari, Mian Tariq Mehmood, Ms. Shahjehan Muneer Mangrio, Nawab Muhammad Yusuf Talpur, Mr. Shehryar Afridi, Mr. Imran Khattak, Secretary Petroleum Division, Additional Secretary Power Division and Senior Officers of the concerned departments.