Sacking of Secretary Water and Power, Zafar Mahmood, is reportedly the outcome of a cold war between Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Minister for Water and Power Ahmad Mukhtar. Secretary Cabinet, Nargis Sethi, who was given an additional charge of Ministry of Water and Power, would brief the Cabinet on Wednesday to be presided over by the prime minister.
Insiders in the Ministry of Water and Power said that Zafar Mahmood's removal came as a surprise to many as they maintained that the senior bureaucrat had taken a number of steps to cope with the power sector crisis.
Officials close to Prime Minister claimed that Zafar Mahmood failed to deliver. Sources inside the Ministry told this correspondent that Mahmood took up various projects to improve the sectoral performance, but was encumbered by non-availability of technical resources in the ministry except for a joint secretary who is a professional power sector engineer.
They also maintained that the thrust was away from adding capacity to daily production for which, after the dissolution of Pepco, only CEO of Genco Holding Company, MD NTDC and MD CPPA (an entity working within NTDC) were responsible. These critical positions are held by a single man named Naveed Ismail, who reportedly, was available in his office in Lahore for 27 days out of nearly 180 days in office. He is often seen in the power corridors of Islamabad.
Ismail once worked for AES, Lal Pir and PakGen from where he was relieved of his duties in early 2008; he then joined KESC when the new Abraj backed operators took over the Utility in 2008 from where he was again sacked after the Sindh Provincial Assembly passed a resolution condemning him on account of his ostentatious life style, inefficiency, and failure to reduce loadshedding.
Subsequently, he reportedly began peddling for a government job. He was first placed on the Genco Holding Company's BoD early this year. After which, he was surprisingly posted as CEO of the company without due process or due diligence. Since then, although the steward of a holding company, he has been micro-managing the Gencos to the detriment of power sector reforms.
According to sources in Wapda, PEPCO and Ministry of Water and Power, Ismail is also responsible for the slow implementation of Supreme Court's orders in the 425MW Nandipur Power Station. Sources maintained that the Nandipur Power Station and the allied 525MW Chicho ki Malian power plant would have to be scuttled. In the process, the power sector may lose nearly 1000MW of efficient public sector power generation.
According to the new realities the full thrust of managing the sector falls on the shoulders of the CEO GENCO Holding Company and the MD NTDC/ MD CPPA.
The incumbents holding these positions should be available 24/7 to ensure availability of power generation for transmission by the NTDC and distribution by DISCOs. According to daily reports issued by the NTDC and the Ministry, Gencos are reported to generate between 800MW and 1600MW only against the capacity of 3580MW.
Sources in Wapda and the Ministry of Water and Power point towards Ismail's solo visit to China during early September, 2012 to arrange for investments for conversion of GENCOs and some IPPs to coal and also for setting-up a 600MW coal fire plant at Jamshoro through an ADB loan as the reason for his continued retention and firing of the secretary Water and Power instead. Ismail has yet to receive his salary since February, 2012, because no one in the Ministry of Water and Power is ready to approve the agreed Rs 1.9 million per month salary package.
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