Gencos'' O&M contracts: government shelves outsourcing plan

The government has shelved outsourcing plan of Gencos'' operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts to private contractors after a deal with the employees of Pepco. Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) took a couple of months to finalise the outsourcing plan in consultation with experts of international repute.
"With the decision, the government''s power sector reforms process is almost dead," said an official on condition of anonymity. Earlier, the decision was taken to outsource the operations of Gencos to private sector as the ministry of water and power was of the opinion that due to inefficiency, limited fiscal space and circular debt, the government was not in a position to invest to rehabilitate the Gencos.
Federal Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar announced to withdraw plan of outsourcing operation contracts to private contractors after negotiations with representatives of Hydro Electrical central labour union, here on Saturday. Qamar reiterated the stance that power sector would not be privatised at any cost and in this regard no plan was under consideration. Talking to media after negotiations with representatives of Hydro Electrical central labour union, Qamar said that reports about privatisation of power sector were baseless.
"Government is taking certain steps to eliminate electricity theft from the country and legislation is under way to deal with elements in power theft under criminal procedure act," Qamar added. He said that officials of distribution companies or consumer who involved in electricity theft would be dealt under criminal codes and stern action would be taken against them.
Labour union had also demanded that heads of power sector companies should not be appointed from private sector. "I will discuss the issue with Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani after his return as this was a policy issue," he said, adding that the government was not involved in unscheduled load shedding. "Punjab government has not implemented the decision of energy conference to switch to two-day holidays a week and closure of shops at 8 pm," he said, adding that there would be no result of energy conservation if Punjab fails to implement decisions of energy conference.