Pakistan open to buying power from Gujarat: Salman Bashir

NEW DELHI: Battling with a severe power crisis, Pakistan is open to buying power from the Gujarat state government, reported Times Now. Salman Bashir, Pakistan High Commissioner told Times Now that technical teams from the country have visted two power plants in India, both of which are in Gujarat.

"Two plants have been visited, both in Gujarat, one of them is a solar plant," Bashir said. However, Bashir said that the process of buying energy could only begin once a dialogue process between the two countries gets going.

Earlier this month, Pakistan said it wants the resumption of the formal composite dialogue with India to address "mistrust" between the two countries. Referring to the start of back channel diplomacy with India, Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Chaudhry said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had appointed former diplomat Shahryar Khan to conduct negotiations.

Khan has visited India and expressed the Pakistani leadership's "strong desire" for good neighbourly relations, he said.

Officials from the two countries are currently working out dates for the next round of talks between the two sides. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to meet his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York in September.

Blackouts lasting more than half a day in some areas have infuriated many Pakistanis, prompting the new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to declare tackling the crisis one of his top priorities.

The government sells power below the cost of production but pays subsidies late or not at all. Plants cannot afford fuel.

As a result, Pakistan has lost an estimated 5 billion rupees in the last five years, a loss it can ill-afford as it struggles to revive its moribund economy and reduce its budget deficit.