Energy Office Director USAID Mission to Pakistan, Melissa Knight on Friday said that United States (US) is committed to assisting the government of Pakistan in improving the power distribution system in order to cope with the energy crisis.

Speaking at a ceremony to send a group of senior human resources officials from Pakistani Power Distribution Companies (Discos) to Washington D.C and Baltimore, she said that US would assist public sector power distribution companies to improve their operations, and reduce lines losses.

Ultimately, these steps would ensure smooth and reliable power supply to the consumers, she added.
Knight said that energy is crucial for growing economy and creating job opportunities.

She said that US government also supported Pakistan in construction of mega hydel projects including Tarbela and Mangla dams and Guddu Power Plant.

She said that these Discos' human resources officials would travel to US from February 27 to March 2 and also visit US power utilities to gain experience.

The exchange tour was organised by US government to strengthen human resources management at Discos, she added.
During their exchange visit, Discos managers have an opportunity to observe operations at several well run power utilities.

The programme will include presentation, site visits and round table discussion to address specific topics related to human resources management, training and change management at distribution companies.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Secretary Ministry of Water and Power Aftab Nadeem said that the training would provide opportunities to Discos officials to learn more techniques.
He said that it would be third group of Discos officials who would gain training from US.

It is pertinent to mention here that during the first two tours, Discos managers traveled to Turkey and South Africa.

In Turkey, Discos managers focused on the operations of commercial, financial and customer information system while in South Africa, they learned about engineering, planning and operation management.
The 3-year USAID Power Distribution Programme was announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009, as one of the US efforts to support Pakistan's energy system.

Through this programme, the US government provides assistance to Pakistan in its efforts to reform the power sector to mitigate the energy crisis.