ISLAMABAD: Power Division has initiated inquiry against National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) for deletion of some development schemes from PSDP including Electricity Distribution Efficiency Improvement Project (EDEIP), sources close to Special Secretary Power Division told Business Recorder.
In a warning letter to Managing Director NTDC Waseem Younas, Power Division’s Special Secretary Arshad Majeed Mohmand has stated that he has been appointed as inquiry officer under a notification of November 13, 2024 to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the matter of deletion of certain development schemes from PSDP including the EDEIP Comportment-IV due to which salaries of the consultants and finalisation of new consultancies are stopped since start of the financial year.
According to the Special Secretary in pursuance of the office order he has initiated the inquiry proceedings. In the office order, Managing Director NTEC was directed to provide the relevant record, including demands for the Finical Year 2024-2025 within a week of the receipt of the office order.
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However, till December 12, 2024 no record was received from NTDC. On December 12, 2024, through another U.O, MD NTDC was again requested to provide the requisite record within two but in vain.
On December 19, 2024, Special Secretary, in his letter had requested MD NTDC to provide the requisite record till December 20, 2024 at l0:00 AM positively, failing which disciplinary action shall be recommended against him and all the concerned officers of NTDC for non-compliance of the directives.
When contacted for update on the office orders, Special Secretary Power Division confirmed that NTDC has complied with the office orders with respect to provision of relevant record.
Sources in Economic Affairs Division (EDA) told this scribe that the issue of protracted delays in hiring of Project Implementation & Management Support Consultants (PIMSCs), needed for finalising major procurements for Discos, has been discussed at a meeting the EAD.
During the meeting, lack of progress on broader reform agenda by Power Division and frequent staff turnover at Discos was discussed in detail.
“Delay in procurement of Market Reform Consultant for Power Division; Potential engagement of additional financing and necessary revision of PC-1 in case AF is engaged was also part of discussion,” the sources added.
Secretary, Power Division, Dr Fakhar-e-Alam Irfan took a serious note of protracted implementation delays of the project and directed Discos to expedite on-boarding of PIMSCs.
The meeting, presided over by the Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, directed the Power Division to probe the causes of implementation delays and their timely redressal on permanent footing.
Power Division was asked to help Discos taking appropriate measures to curtail the staff turnover.
Power Division was directed to share timeline for appointing new CEO MEPCO while putting in place stop-gap arrangement in the interim period.
It was also decided that Power Division will engage Discos for furnishing a credible plan and timelines for disbursement and utilisation of a substantial quantum of funds to help justify additional financing AF in CFY.
Power Division will also facilitate maximum delegation of powers to CEOs of Discos for timely decision making.
The government also requested the World Bank to consider an Additional Financing (AF) of $50 million to support the rollout of an Asset Performance Management System programme at PESCO and HESCO.
Last month, the World Bank had identified bottlenecks in Electricity Distribution Efficiency Improvement Project and asked power Distribution Companies to accelerate implementation of the corrective measures on the weaknesses identified by the Implementation Support Mission (ISM) on August 26-September 11, 2024.
According to the Bank, the project is at a critical stage of implementation. Although the project made good progress recently, it is significantly behind the original schedule with only 3.6% of the fund disbursed after three years.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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