ISLAMABAD, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Pakistan’s government said it was struggling to restore power to millions of people on Monday after a grid failure caused the worst power outage in months and highlighted the heavily indebted nation’s weak infrastructure.
Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir told reporters that an investigation had been launched into the outage, which began around 7 am (0200 GMT) and has so far lasted more than 12 hours. “We have faced some hurdles, but we will overcome these hurdles and restore power,” he added.
The outage, which the minister said was due to a voltage surge, was the second major grid failure in three months and added to the power outages that almost 220 million people in Pakistan suffer on an almost daily basis.
Analysts and officials blame these power problems on an aging power grid that, like much of the nation’s infrastructure, is in desperate need of an upgrade that the government says it cannot afford.
The International Monetary Fund has bailed out Pakistan five times in the last two decades. However, its latest bailout tranche has been blocked by differences with the government over a review of the program due to be completed in November.
“There is a hidden weakness in the system,” said an energy ministry official who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. “Generators are too far from load centers and transmission lines are too long and insufficient.”
[1/5] A man sits outside his shop during a nationwide power outage in Karachi, Pakistan January 23, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
Pakistan has enough installed capacity to meet demand, but lacks the resources to operate its oil and gas-fired power plants. The sector is so indebted that it cannot afford to invest in infrastructure and power lines. China is investing in its energy sector as part of a $60 billion infrastructure scheme that fits into Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
“We were adding capacity, but we were doing it without improving the transmission infrastructure,” said Fahad Rauf, head of research at Karachi-based brokerage Ismail Iqbal Industries.
The outage occurred in parts of Pakistan on a wintry day where temperatures were expected to drop to around 4 degrees Celsius (39°F) in the capital Islamabad and 8 degrees Celsius (46°F) in the financial center of Karachi.
Many people also don’t have running water because there was no power for the pumps. “People are suffering badly from this blackout,” said Sagar Pahuja, a water and sanitation officer in Jacobabad Municipality, a southern city with daily scheduled blackouts.
Earlier, Dastgir told Reuters that supplies were being partially restored from north to south and that the grid should be fully operational by 10:00 pm (17:00 GMT). It also took hours to restore power after the last major outage.
The outage affected internet and mobile phone services. Several companies and hospitals said they had switched to backup generators, but outages continued everywhere.
“If this blackout lasts for 10 or 12 hours, it will cause heavy losses,” said Naseem Shah, a commuter in the northeastern city of Lahore, where the blackout brought the metro network to a halt. “We hope the government restores power soon.”
Reporting by Asif Shahzad, Ariba Shahid and Gibran Nayyar Peshimam, additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar and Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore and Charlotte Greenfield in Kabul; writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Miral Fahmy; editing by Sudipto Ganguly & Simon Cameron-Moore
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