Ghana: Petrol: Over 5 million litres released to end shortage
The Tema Oil refinery (TOR) on Thursday, released over 5 million litres of gasoline to the various Oil Marketing Companies in the capital.
This was revealed by Mrs Aba Lokko, Head of Public Relations of TOR in an interview with Joy News’ Evans Mensah.
“I am happy to say we have done 3.3 million litres and the Accra Police Depot has also done more than 2 million litres today.
“So we have done more than we said we will do, we haven’t closed yet. We will still continue till nine in the evening and continue tomorrow.”
According to her, the total stock received was 27,000 metric tones and that will see the country through three weeks.
The move is to ease pressure on motorists’ following days of acute shortage of petrol in parts of Accra early this week.
India: India peak power deficit to widen 12.6 pct in 09/10
India's peak power deficit is expected to widen in the current fiscal year to 12.6 percent from 11.9 percent in the 2008/09 fiscal year that ended in March, junior power minister Bharatsinh Solanki said on Friday.
India plans to add 78.7 gigawatts (GW) of power generation during the five year ending March 2012, of which 15.1 GW has been commissioned.
In the previous two financial years, India's power generation was lower than the set targets mainly because of fuel shortages, Solanki said in a written reply to questions in parliament.
He said the Central Electricity Authority has projected energy shortage of 9.3 percent or 78,429 mega units (MU) and peak power shortages of 12.6 percent or 14.98 GW in 2009/10.
India: Shortage of kerosene forced people to purchase kerosene in black rate in Jagatsinghpur
The kerosene is becoming inaccessible for the thousands of people in remote areas of Jagatsinghpur district as unscrupulous traders have struck a deal with civil supply officials, tuning the system into full fledged racket. The people of remote are purchasing kerosene at the rate of Rs 30 to 40 per liter due to acute shortage of kerosene during power crisis.
Rural and urban areas of Jagatsinghpur district continued to reel under the worst ever power crisis in recent times of five to eight hours which also resulted acute shortage of kerosene. Poverty stricken people are purchasing the kerosene in black rate during power crisis. It is matter of regret that neither district administration not civil supply department has increased the quota of kerosene especially load shielding period in which consumers are purchasing kerosene at the rate of Rs 30 to Rs 40 per liter. Locals have alleged that major portion of the kerosene allotted for BPL families has found its way to the open market.
India: PMO note slams power ministry
If you have been angry over the crippling power cuts lately, so is the office of the Prime Minister, which, in a note meant for internal circulation, has called it “a symptom of the deep malaise in the (power) sector”.
“… The power sector has underperformed,” concluded the note written by a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office on June 30, at the peak of the power crisis in Delhi. The note swings between anger and despair.
“In fact,” it said, “persistent shortfalls on account of electricity generation, held back our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth.” In plain language, the official is saying power shortage is holding back economic growth in India.
Indonesia: Tobacco farmers to suffer due to kerosene shortage
Thousands of tobacco farmers on Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara, are facing the prospect of losing their harvest this year because kerosene required for processing their crop has not yet arrived.
West Nusa Tenggara Governor Zainul Majdi held a special meeting Thursday to discuss the issue with provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Surya Iskandar, Mataram Pertamina depot head Mochammad Suherman and delegates representing the tobacco farmers affected in the region.
The chairman of the West Nusa Tenggara branch of the Indonesian Tobacco Farmers Association (APTI), Lalu Hatman, told The Jakarta Post following the meeting that the harvest season normally begins in mid-June, but because the kerosene used to fire ovens for drying the tobacco had not arrived, the farmers were forced to leave the crop and wait.
Malaysia: Sabah to suffer power disruption for 2 more months
Power supply disruptions in the state will continue for nearly two more months as the Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd grapples with repairs and maintenance of its generator sets and those of Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
The total power supply currently available in the state was about 700mW, barely enough to meet electricity demand here.
"There is no comfort zone," said SESB Senior Manager (Communications) Chenderamata Sinteh said in adding that the shortfall of just over 70mW was due to repair and maintenance work on a 35mW generating set belonging to an IPP here and the SESB's equipment at Tenom Pangi (22mW) and Patau Patau, Labuan (15mW).
Pakistan: Prolonged power outages continue
Prolonged power outages continued in several localities of the city on Thursday, while Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) officials keep attributing the persisting power supply shortage to the shortage of gas supply without realising the problems with the thermal power generation units of the utility?s own generation system.
In some affected areas, the total impact of intermittent power failures prolonged up to seven hours in the daytime alone. In other areas, the power faults kept recurring, exposing the KESC?s inability to fix its power distribution systems.
Complaints of prolonged power failures were received from Gulshan-e-Iqbal, KDA Scheme No-1, Shanti Nagar, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, and Federal ?B? Area. Meanwhile, the KESC also failed to plug leakages and line losses in transmission and distribution systems.
Pakistan: A mango republic?
If touched, a naked live-wire shocks. If touched an electricity bill shocks these days. Why does a live-wire shock? Only Nature knows. Why does an electricity bill shock? Only the rulers know.
The electric shock is Nature's creation. The bill-shock is our national creation. Had nature liked, she could have created shock free electricity. But no! Likewise, had the rulers liked, they could have created shocks free bills. But no!
According to a news, a resident of Faisalabad received his monthly electricity bill. He was shocked. He had never known this brand of a shock before. He did not have the means to pay the bill in money. He decided to make the payment with his dead body. He sprinkled a combustible oil over this body and set himself ablaze. According to the news, eighty percent of his body was badly charred. Logically and morally, the government should exempt eighty percent of the bill.
Our load-shedding on a massive scale is a new technology of physical torturing. Especially in summer, under high temperatures, breathing becomes an ordeal. The poor old Pakistanis, with weak lungs, keep miserably looking at their stationary electric fans. They keep requesting the fans: "Please Fans, grant us just a little bit of relief." But the fans are cruelly stubborn. They retort: "We can't move. Why don't you move out of the country?"
