Federal Minister for Power, Petroleum and Natural Resources Omar Ayub Khan has maintained that gradual restoration of the power supply is underway after Pakistan was hit by a massive blackout early Sunday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a news conference with Information Minister Shibli Faraz, Omar Ayub said that a fault occurred at Guddu power station at 23:41 hours on Saturday, instantly dropped the system frequency to zero and 10,302 MW were pulled out of the system right away.

He further said that an inquiry into the blackout has been launched but precise fault can only be determined after reduction in fog.

Complete restoration will take some time; however, the majority of cities have been partially restored, he said. Power supply will be completely restored across the country within next few hours, Omar Ayub said.

The minister said teams are working to restore power supply across the country.

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The minister also lambasted the past governments for ignoring the power sector. Faults occurred due to an outdated system as the previous government had no plan to upgrade transmission lines.

Omar also claimed that the PTI government has increased the power capacity to more than 23,000 MW – adding 4,500 MW as compared to the previous regime. “We have allocated at least three hundred billion rupees to upgrade the transmission system for smooth power supply,” he added.

Omar Ayub said the restoration process began after the Tarbela power plant was restarted, adding power supply has been restored in most parts of the country, including Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Faisalabad and Jhang.

“Efforts are underway to determine the main cause of the breakdown,” he said and announced that the government would carry out a probe into why the fault occurred.

The minister said no attention was paid towards improvement of transmission system on modern lines in the past. Technical faults occur due to outdated system as no effort was made in the past to upgrade transmission lines, he lamented.

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said the government is committed to bring improvement in power sector. He said a comprehensive plan is being pursued to upgrade transmission system and to enhance power generation.

Shibli Faraz blamed the previous governments for the countrywide power breakdown. He said the present government was working on improvement of power distribution system which remained neglected in the past. 

He said that the previous government focused on the power generation only. He said the government was committed to bring improvement in power sector. He said a comprehensive plan is being pursued to upgrade transmission system and to enhance power generation. 

Faraz said that the power sector was the backbone of the country but the previous government did not introduce any new technology to improve the distribution system.

He said the presently power generation capacity was more than 36,000 MW but only 26,000 mw could be distributed as distribution system was not compatible with it. He said that there were technical issues with the distribution system as it was not upgraded with the passage of time. 

He said Matiari-Lahore power transmission line was near completion and it would be accomplished by March this year. 

To a question, he said that steps would be taken to avert such a situation in future after the findings of inquiry report to find out the reasons behind the breakdown.