Water and Power Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi has directed Wapda to transfer all secondary network manpower to DISCOS within a month to meet the deadline set by the World Bank, it is reliably learnt. "Wapda, which is still resisting corporatisation of the power sector, has been facing a lot of pressure for preparation of staff transfer plan within three-four weeks", said an official, a privy to the meeting on Wednesday.
Wapda had informed the World Bank that the delay in transfer of the staff was due to continued implementation of fifth STG project and the staff/officers employed in design, supervision, and construction activities were temporarily retained to complete the project, the official said, adding: "Jatoi was angry with Wapda officials for not implementing his directives and asked the Member Power to prepare the employees transfer plan immediately."
The issue of tariff petitions lying with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) also came under discussion and DISCOS also faced minister''s annoyance for not timely providing missing information to Nepra.
It may be mentioned here that the regulator wrote a letter to all DISCOS on May 24 in which it was asked to the companies to immediately provide missing information, but the CEOs of DISCOS present in the meeting informed that they did not receive any such letters from Nepra, the official said.
When the minister took serious note of Wapda and DISCOS non-co-operative attitude, the Wapda Member Power immediately telephoned member tariff Nepra, requesting him to make available a copy of the letter which was later discussed in the meeting.
The minister also directed the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) responsible for the corporatisation of the power sector to give all relevant information to the regulator to avoid any delay in the acceptance of tariff petitions.
The official said that DISCOS gave detailed presentations to the minister about their performance who acknowledged the pace of progress and directed them to take more steps to improve the performance.
All the companies have signed Loan Liability Transfer Agreement (LLTAs) with Wapda which was the primary agreements for the transfer of loans by which the companies have assumed the obligations to service the loan.
While loan assumption agreements for the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco) and the Jamshoro Power Company (JPC) for the transfer of foreign loans have been forwarded to the PC and were currently in process with the Economic Affairs Division (EAD).
Replying to a question, the official also claimed that transfer of assets to the companies have been completed except the transfer of the title of land, which requires registration. For this purpose, Wapda has given the power of attorney to the companies and they have been authorised to get the work completed through consultants or through the local staff.
Answering another question, the official said that the draft Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has been endorsed by Wapda hydel and NTDC except one clause relating to supplemental payments (part load adjustment charges). This matter relates to the fixation of supplementary charges subject to approval by Nepra.
Asked whether Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have agreed to transfer PPAs from Wapda to NTDC, the official said that IPPs have not conveyed their consent so far, citing non-availability of consent from their lenders. The matter was referred to PPIB, but there was no progress because of postponement of two schedule meetings.
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