Pakistan Keen to Import More Electricity from Iran

Pakistani energy officials are in talks with their Iranian counterparts to persuade the Islamic Republic to increase electricity exports to its energy-hungry neighbor, a senior official announced.

“The Pakistani government is considering the import of 1,174 megawatts (MW) of electricity from Iran,” Pakistani Minister of Water and Power Khawja Muhammad Asif said on Thursday.

He underlined that Islamabad is in negotiations with Tehran for increasing the imports of electricity from the Islamic Republic to overcome a severe energy crisis in that country.

Pakistan is battling chronic electricity shortage, which is inflaming public anger and stifling industrial output, as power outages can last eight to 10 hours a day in cities, with much more frequent cuts in rural areas.

Earlier this year, Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company (MAPNA) offered immediate solution to the neighboring Pakistan’s ongoing power crisis.

MAPNA, the world’s sixth largest power company, announced that it can easily bridge the gap between demand and supply of electricity in Pakistan within months, the Islamabad-based Daily Times newspaper reported in June.

Pakistan’s electricity shortage currently stands at 7,000 megawatts.

“We can easily provide up to 10,000 megawatts of electricity to Islamabad on the most competitive basis as compared with any other neighboring country of Pakistan,” MAPNA International Relations Director Mohammad Hossein Baqeri said.

Baqeri said that MAPNA, with 39 subsidiaries, has its own gas fields and power plants construction facilities.

“Our company has been operating in 18 countries and it can also build power plants with international standards within 15 months at 20 percent discounted rates,” he added.

Iran and Pakistan exchange delegations on a regular basis and the two neighboring countries are keen to further expedite expansion of bilateral trade ties.

Pakistan’s electricity is generated, transmitted, distributed, and sold by two vertically integrated public sector utilities — Water and Power Development Authority, responsible for all of Pakistan except Karachi, and the Karachi Electric Supply Corp — along with roughly 20 independent power producers. None have developed substantive solutions to the country’s ongoing power crisis.