Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has reportedly expressed displeasure over the poor performance of Ministry of Water and Power in terms of power sector recoveries and directed the Ministry to submit a detailed quantifying amount recovered and cases lodged during the last one year.
Dar while chairing the first meeting of the Committee formed by the Prime Minister on energy resource rationalisation for power sector directed the Ministry of Water and Power to submit a complete report by the first week of August on the amount recovered from defaulters during the last one year, cases lodged and their status. Dar was quoted by one of the participants of that meeting as being upset at the Ministry of Water and Power's failure to bring about any improvement in the system and taking the easy course namely to demand funds from the Finance Ministry.
Finance Minister said that as far as his Ministry was concerned it is on track in terms of releasing subsidy to life line power consumers. As far as receivables are concerned, he said, it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Water and Power to take measures to prevent pilferage from the system. He added that it was the responsibility of the Ministry of Water and Power and National Electric Power Regulator Authority (NEPRA) to ensure inclusion of all the components in the cost. If there is any component which is not included in the cost then it is their work. Finance Minister also wanted the Committee to identify the issues and give a clear roadmap to achieve specific targets. Dar proposed a task force for recovery of the outstanding dues of the Ministry of Water and Power.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Musadik Malik gave a detailed presentation on proposals towards improving the recovery situation and halting the re-emergence of the circular debt in future. It was decided by the Committee that 8900 Feeders will be marked and the concerned Discos will be given clear targets for curtailing losses and improving recovery. The Ministry of Water and Power will monitor their performance and an appropriate action will be taken in the light of the results. Finance Minister asked Dr Musaddak Malik, in-charge of the installation of meters at feeders, to improve recoveries and reportedly said that it was his responsibility to ensure success of the programme and submit a report to the committee.
The meeting decided that targets must be fixed for installation of meters at feeders and discos and made Musadik Malik in charge of the whole process of implementation and monitoring. It was also decided that incentives should be given to improve performance at feeders' and discos' levels. According to a statement issued by the Finance Ministry, Secretary Water and Power Nargis Sethi briefed the committee on overall receivable, incidence of theft and the collection status by Ministry of Water & Power and proposed a "Band it and Move it strategy" to curtail line losses and improve the recovery status of receivables. She revealed that encouraging results are emerging in the light of decisions recently taken by the Ministry to recover the outstanding dues.
Finance Minister directed Secretary Water & Power to establish and quantify the factors which are not accounted for in determining the cost of production. "The estimates should be credible and NEPRA should be taken on board while calculating the real cost of production," said the Minister. He also directed secretary Water & Power to give a detailed briefing on the actual collection figures by the first week of August for the purposes of future strategy to improve recovery of outstanding dues.
He further said that data of life-line consumers should be collected. He underlined the need to discourage the practice of installing multiple meters in one house in order to avoid actual billing. The Meeting was also attended by Rana Assad Amin, Advisor to Finance Ministry, Shahid Mahmood Additional Finance Secretary/SA to Finance Minister, and senior officials of the Ministries of Finance and Water & Power.
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