Replacement of Guddu plant machinery: FIA to conduct probe into $32m payments to GE

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will probe the $ 32 million payments made to M/s General Electric (GE), the O&M contractor, for replacement of damaged machinery of 747 MW Guddu Power Plant GT-14.

The decision was taken on Monday at a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Power which met under the chairmanship of Senator Saifullah Abro. The Committee discussed the matter of recovery of the amount of damaged GT-14 (747 MW) from GE at length. However, the acting CEO GHCL failed to satisfy the Committee after which the former directed the Power Division to refer the matter to the FIA involving $32 million.

The Committee also directed the Power Division to refer the matter of the constitution of the new Members of BoDs and recommended to appoint fresh Members of BoDs as per qualification and merit.

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The Committee discussed the letter issued by Power Division on March 31, 2022 relating to the recovery amount to which the acting CEO, GHCL apprised the Committee that the letter issued by the Power Division and the actions to be taken therein were rejected by the BoD, GHCL as the BoD did not approve of the allegations therein.

The Committee showed astonishment at the exercise of such authority and inquired about the rationale behind rejecting the letter by the ministry. The acting CEO, GHCL confirmed the fact that the entire management of the GHCL was lacking competency and persistent lethargy was responsible for corrupting the whole department.

The Committee while further discussing the status of appointment of CEO, GHCL recommended re-advertising the post with qualification requirement as a combination of both the engineering and business administration degrees/diploma and in case the company already has a CFO with required qualification, the only degree to be preferred is that of “Engineering”.

The Committee also sought list of scrutiny based on the previous advertisement. The acting CEO, GHCL also admitted the fact that no revamping took place leading to consistent irregularities and damages to the power sector.

Furthermore, the Committee unanimously decided to make amendments in the “State-owned Enterprises (Governance & Operations) Act, 2023 (Act No.VII of 2023)” regarding matters of appointments, composition of the BoDs and other matters of the HR in the Power Division and observe strict relevancy.

The Committee while taking briefing on the progress of 2X66 MW (132MW) Coal Fired Power Project, Jamshoro, showed resentment at the unpreparedness of the representative of acting CEO, GENCO-1.

The committee argued that when allocation of total amount of the project has been made how come it is still not completed.

The Committee lamented that had it been completed 2 years back when dollar was at Rs. 160, the country would have saved a significant amount of money that it requires now.

The Committee directed to take stern action against the officers responsible for its delay. The Committee also sought details of the cars being consumed on the project and sought details on its progress and completion in the next meeting.

The petition No. PP 5309 regarding non-payment of group of life insurance after retirement referred by Chairman Senate was also discussed.

The Petitioner, (All Pakistan WAPDA Hydro Retired Workers/Pensioners Association), noted that WAPDA has made deductions of Group Life Insurance (GLI) from salaries of Petitioners (retired WAPDA Employees). It was briefed that the insurance premium is deducted from salaries of employees which are called GLI deductions; hence GLI deductions are for payment of their expenditure as a group. It was further briefed that these are paid by WAPDA to Insurance Companies and nothing is retained by WAPDA.

The Committee deferred the matter and directed the Member (Finance) WAPDA and the MD, State Life to put in an appearance to give a briefing. Senator Bharamand Khan Tangi commented that protection of employees should be the priority of WAPDA rather than defending the insurance company and said that process should take place as per the rules in the Act.

Earlier, the matter of NTDC on the construction of 765 kV double circuit transmission line from Dasu Hydro Station was taken up in-camera and the matter was deferred for detailed deliberation through conducting day to day meetings starting from next week. Similarly, the matter of MD, NESPAK on their consultancy and progress of all projects in power sector was also deferred.

The meeting was attended by Senators Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Prince Ahmed Umer Ahmedzai, Bahramand Khan Tangi and Senator Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo. Secretary Power Division and other senior officers of related departments were also in attendance.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023