The electricity supply was restored this Tuesday in most of the cities of Pakistan, a day after a “blackout” in a large part of the country, 220 million inhabitants.
Power returned to Karachi and Lahore overnight on Monday, but outages persisted locally.
Power has been restored in the capital Islamabad and other cities including Rawalpindi, Quetta, Peshawar and Gujranwala, unlike some rural areas of Pakistan.
Power cuts are frequent in Pakistan, which has faced a chronic energy crisis for years and whose distribution system is complex and outdated.
A similar blackout in January 2021 plunged most of the country into darkness for several hours after a fault in the south of the country triggered a chain reaction at several power plants.
Power outages are a recurring problem in Pakistan. But the situation has deteriorated further in recent months, with the country’s financial situation further aggravating power supply difficulties.
Families have been affected, but so has industry, for example in the textile sector, which accounts for about 60% of Pakistan’s exports.
In May 2018, another major ‘blackout’ hit the country, with power remaining partially cut for over nine hours.
In 2015, 80% of the country, including major cities, was plunged into darkness due to a power outage caused, according to the government, by a separatist attack on a high-voltage line in a remote district of Balochistan province. .
The ‘blackout’, one of the worst in Pakistan’s history, even affected one of the international airports.
Source: TSF
