ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday asked the private power producers to complete the projects assigned to them expeditiously so as to end load-shedding by December this year, as has been committed by the government to the people. The President’s plea came during a meeting today in the Presidency with more than a dozen power producers along with Water and Power Minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, and Secretaries of relevant ministries dealing with power, finance and petroleum issues. Briefing the media persons about the meeting, spokesperson to the President, former Senator, Farhatullah Babar, said that all of the power producers assured the President that their projects would come on line as per contractual obligations before the end of the year. Some producers claimed that their projects would be completed several weeks, even months, ahead of the schedule. The rental power plants which are expected to be commissioned by the end of the year are based mostly on gas and furnace oil. A run down on project implementation was given by the representatives of the rental power plants explaining the progress made thus far, and the probable date of commissioning of the plants. Farhatullah Babar said that on the presentation by a private power producer the President directed the Petroleum Secretary to furnish a report on 16 gas fields in Sindh reportedly abandoned by the OGDC as depleted and of no use. The President said that with new technological advances the abandoned gas fields should be reactivated to meet the gas needs of the new power projects as well as domestic and industrial consumers. On the occasion, the President also accepted the invitation to inaugurate the 300 MW power project in Raiwind before the end of the year. The President also announced to designate the Ambassador at Large, Khalil Ahmad, as the point person to address security issues raised by the power producers due to which foreign manpower was reluctant to work. The President noted that he would undertake a periodic review of the power sector to ensure that bottlenecks, if any, were removed and the projected plants came on line as scheduled to end the load-shedding. He also called for a separate meeting on the utilisation of indigenous coal for power production. The meeting will be held shortly, Farhatullah Babar said.