SUNDAY MARCH 11: Rs 136 billion released to private power generation companies, claims Ministry

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Water and Power on Saturday claimed that an amount of Rs 136 billion has been released to the private power generation companies through Term Finance Certificates (TFCs) but Pakistan State Oil (PSO) received only Rs 39 billion from Hub Power Companies (Hubco) and Kot Addu Power Company (Kapco). Well informed sources told Business Recorder that in February 2012, PSO received Rs 18 billion from power sector against supplies of approximately Rs 32 billion.
"An amount of Rs 136 billion has been released to the power generation companies after formal agreements of Power Holding Company Limited with different banks," an official of Water and Power Ministry told Business Recorder. He said Power Distribution Companies (Discos) had also pledged 33 percent of their bills' recovery from consumers to the federal government for five years to pay Rs 151 billion loan facility arranged through debt swap deals with banks.
Analysts have expressed doubts that the entire amount has been transferred to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), which is one of the reasons for continued heavy load shedding besides lowering of water levels in Tarbella and Mangla reservoirs. Power tariff will be increased across the board to fund about Rs 18 billion (Rs 4.67 billion per quarter) interest on TFCs per annum on the loan facility extended by 16 banks to transfer credits to the accounts of Power Holding Company Limited (PHCL). Earlier banks were reluctant to extend loans to the power sector, saying that their exposure to the power sector has already crossed reasonable limits.
The names of banks and amount being transferred to the PHCL's books are as follows: Allied Bank of Pakistan (ABL) Rs 21.01 billion, Askari Bank Limited Rs 9.98 billion, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Rs 23.32 billion, Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) Rs 8.932 billion, Atlas Bank Rs 6.72, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Rs 20.19 billion, Bank Al-Habib Limited Rs 5.25 billion, Samba Bank Limited Rs 800 million, NIB Rs 3.18 billion, Habib Metropolitan Bank Rs 3.33 billion, Faysal Bank Limited, Bank-Alfalah Limited, Citi Bank, Soneri Bank Limited, Summit Bank and the Bank of Punjab also extended signed debt swap agreements with GoP, however, the amounts are not known.
The sources said 31 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and others would benefit from the debt swap deal. Some of the IPPs whose credit lines are cleared from the banks are as follows: Hub Power Project Rs 34.704 billion, Fauji Kabirwala Power Company Rs 1.74 billion, Rousch (Pakistan) Power Limited Rs 5.167 billion, Attock Gen Limited Rs 6.8 billion, Atlas Power Limited Rs 3.8 billion, Engro Energy Limited Rs 1.94 billion, Foundation Power Company (Daharki) Limited Rs 1.56 billion, Halmore Power Generation Company Limited Rs 834 million, Hub Power Project, Norwal Rs 5.114 billion, Liberty Power Tech - Nishat Power Limited - Nishat Chunian Limited - Orient Power Company Limited - Saif Power Limited Rs 1.56 billion - Sapphire Electric Company Limited Rs 2.539 billion, Chashma I and II Rs 91.75 million, Kot Addu Power Company(Kapco) Rs 35.40 billion, AES Lalpir Limited, AES Pak General (Pvt) Limited, Altern Energy Limited, Habibullah Coastal Power (Pvt) Co, Japan Power Generation (Pvt) Limited, Kohinoor Energy Limited, Liberty Power Project, Saba Power Company Limited, Southern Electric Power Company Limited, Uch Power Limited, Liberty Power Tech. Nishat Power, Nushat Chunian and Orient Power Limited. According to PSO, its receivables against Wapda stood at Rs 48 billion, Hubco Rs 74.5 billion as of March 9, whereas its payables to local refineries are Rs 82 billion.