Drafting amendments in power policy: body set up with provinces' representatives

The government on Monday constituted a committee to take provincial governments on board for drafting amendments in the 'Power Policy 2002', particularly hydropower projects, official sources told Business Recorder. The decision was taken in a meeting of the Board of Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB), presided over by the Minister for Water and Power, Pervez Ashraf.
The committee comprises of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman Shakeel Durrani, PPIB Managing Director Fayyaz Elahi and representatives of provincial governments. The committee has been given one month to resolve the issues raised by the provincial governments.
Sources said that the provincial governments were annoyed over PPIB not taking them on board and given appropriate time for comments on the proposed amendments in the policy. "Provinces are insisting that they should be allowed to seek investment directly for hydropower projects," sources added. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif during his visit to China before his disqualification he had invited Chinese investors for hydropower projects.
Similar reservations were also expressed by NWFP government. When one of the participants was asked what was discussed in the PPIB Board meeting, he said there was nothing to discuss except reviewing the progress in ongoing projects, most of which are behind schedule.
However, an official statement quoted the Minister for Water and Power as saying that the government is fully committed to achieve its targets for inducting the required power capacity into the national grid and end load shedding by the end of this year.
He said that 3000 MW will be added into the system by December 2009, which includes IPPs and rental projects being processed by PPIB in the private sector and projects being processed in the public sector by Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco). Progress of all power projects was reviewed in the meeting. PPIB Managing Director gave briefing on the status of independent power producers (IPPs) under construction, based on actual site visit of PPIB/ WPPO teams, on which the board expressed satisfaction.
The Minister said that PPIB team should remain vigilant, and added that he was confident that load shedding would be eliminated by December 2009. He said that keeping in view the future electricity demand growth for the next five years, planning should be done before time so as to be fully geared to avoid future electricity deficit in the country.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Water and Power Shahid Rafi, Secretary Planning Commission Dr Ashraf Hayat, Special Secretary Petroleum and Natural Resources G. A. Sabri, other senior government officials and private members of the Board. It is pertinent to mention here that the incumbent PPIB Managing Director has removed most of the private sector members from the board, as they were critical of PPIB's performance, sources said.