ISLAMABAD, Oct 28 (APP): The government would soon introduce smart electricity metering in the country to eliminate complaints of inflated and manipulated billing, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission of Pakistan, Salman Faruqui said here. He was speaking at a one-day workshop on Development of Integrated Energy Modeling System for Pakistan organized by the Planning Commission in co-operation with the Asian Development Bank.

He said the government was determined to enhance electricity generation, saying that President Asif Ali Zardari has directed Ministry of Water and Power to revamp the electricity sector by rationalizing and streamlining the institutional set up.

He said the president has also directed the ministry to reduce dependence on imported fuels for electricity generation besides, undertaking major initiatives to conserve energy and reduce line losses.

Salman Faruqui said that pilot programmes would also be undertaken for replacing gas with solar water heating systems as well as solar and renewable energy based water pumping systems for irrigation.

The Technical Assistance project for Development of Integrated Energy Modeling System for Pakistan will be carried out by a Consultant Team consisting of international experts from the International Resources Group and national experts from MEConsult. 

The Planning Commission will be the executing agency to direct the project.

There are two key objectives of the project including assist the Government of Pakistan to develop an integrated energy model and build the institutional capacity within the Planning Commission Energy Wing to ensure the sustainability of this modeling and planning capability, and its integration into the decision-making and policy formulation process in Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Parvez Butt, Member Energy Planning Commission, stressed the need for devising long term strategies for energy conservation and for overcoming the energy crisis on sustainable basis.

He was of the view that after the completion of the modeling system, Pakistan would have a modern center with computers, soft ware programmes, data base and trained manpower, to which all the country’s energy related organizations would have access, and where all the inputs would be fed and used to predict the future scenarios and suggest actions so that such crisis does not happen again.