Secretary Water and Power, Yousaf Naseem Khokhar on Wednesday said that privatisation of Karachi Electric (KE) has not achieved the desired results due to which the sell-off process of Discos has been shelved. He made these comments at a meeting of National Assembly Standing Committee on Water and Power headed by Arshad Khan Leghari and later while chatting to journalists.
Most of the complaints were regarding area specific load shedding, availability of inventory and overbilling across Pakistan. Talking about Karachi Electric's privatisation, Secretary said that overall expectations at the time of KE sell-off have not been fulfilled. He argued that the government had unbundled and corporatized the power sector with the ultimate objective of privatising Discos but it was abandoned after the "experience" of KE.
Referring to KE's assurance to the government that new buyers i.e. Shanghai Electric Power will invest $ 9 billion in the company and yet there was an issue of an NOC from the government, Secretary Water and Power said that he would review the entire case of KE this week or next week and determine if the new party would be able to run it successfully given that the existing owners were unable to. The issue of KE was raised by Syed Waseem Hussain of MQM who said that all political parties of Karachi are up in arms against over billing and prolonged load shedding. He also cited a letter of Water and Power Ministry to Nepra, according to which KE unleashed Rs 60 billion over billing to the consumers of Karachi.
However, both KE and Nepra rejected the claim of Water and Power Ministry soon after a letter was written. The Secretary said that KE has not improved its own generation and distribution systems and was just relying on 650 MW electricity being provided from the national grid which otherwise should have been disconnected long ago.
He also quoted a study of Nepra according to which the regulator has also expressed reservations on the performance of KE. All the Chief Executives of Distribution Companies (Discos) have been allocated electricity quota with directions to adjust in accordance with their own priority. Discos have also been asked to disseminate information to the media, he said adding that a board has been installed at the Prime Minister's House which shows demand and supply position. He said a possibility will be explored to make the disconnected power position showing board in the Ministry functional.
"Now we are thinking of engaging Discos, which have not been privatised, to improve their performance. Until we eliminate human interference in the system through reliable technology, overbilling will not be controlled," he added.
In reply to a question, Secretary Water and Power said that Nepra's autonomy has not been compromised with the approval of amendments in the 'Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997' by the Council of Common Interests (CCI). According to Secretary Water and Power, Nepra's investigation powers have been enhanced and qualification and experience of members have been prescribed so that the regulator can be converted into a professional body in future.
"Nepra is being further strengthened and regulation powers will remain with Nepra however, if the government formulates rules, their regulation will be the responsibility of Nepra. Likewise, CCI has been empowered to formulate policy in accordance with government's recommendations and Nepra will implement it," he continued.
Answering another question, Secretary Water and Power said that the issue of attaching Nepra to the Ministry or Cabinet Division will also be resolved. "I have already held meetings with incumbent Chairman Nepra and Members. It was always my viewpoint that we should talk to each other and not at each other," he said.
Answering a question regarding tariff differential subsidy claims pending with the Finance Ministry, Secretary Water and Power said that he has held one meeting with the Finance Ministry on this issue. He said presently the amount of subsidy is around Rs 125 billion. However, agriculture tube-well package, GST refunds, FATA and Rs 79 billion against AJ&K are some key issues which are yet to be resolved.
The committee expressed displeasure at the Water and Power Ministry for not providing a brief on the agenda to the committee members and also late arrival of the Secretary to the meeting. Additional Secretary Water and Power Dr Aamir claimed that Secretary was stuck in traffic. However when the Secretary arrived he said he was busy in another meeting which embarrassed the Additional Secretary. The Standing Committee directed Ministry to make all-out efforts to maximise power generation and properly manage the load to overcome load shedding in the coming summer.
The members of the committee raised the issues of un-scheduled load shedding and outdated infrastructure throughout the country especially in their respective constituencies. In order to resolve the issues, the Committee appointed a Sub-Committee to be headed by Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, MNA to look into the issues of electricity in the DISCOs of Sindh and water related issues with IRSA Sindh and submit its recommendations to the main Committee.
The committee also adopted the report of the Sub-Committee formed to resolve the issue of electricity in PESCO. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) PESCO informed the committee that KPK is a load-shedding free province except its those areas where there are system constraints especially in Malakand and where losses are high. He claimed that 164 feeders in Peshawar are load shedding free.
CEO Qesco claimed that 5000-6000 agriculture tubewell connections in Balochistan are illegal whereas 66000 tubewell connections are legal but all the agriculture consumers have installed tubewells of 40 hp, 50 hp and 60 hp whereas approved load is 30 hp. They are also not clearing their due share of billing. He said, receivables against agriculture sector have touched Rs 150 billion, adding that monthly billing is around Rs 4 billion of which only Rs 800 million is being received so far. He further stated that agreement on agriculture subsidy expired on December 31, 2016 and Ministry of Water and Power has been requested to submit the case to the ECC for further action.
Besides officials of Water and Power Ministry, members of National Assembly who attended the meeting are as follows: Muhammad Junaid Anwaar Chaudhary, Malik Ihtehar Khan, Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Ghulam Rasul Sahi, Sardar Mansab Ali Dogar, Rana Afzaal Hussain, Rana Muhammad Ishaq Khan, Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla, Rao Muhammad Ajmal Khan, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, Malik Ghulam Rabbani Khar, Mr. Junaid Akbar, Mr. Salim Rehman, Syed Waseem Hussain, Maulana Muhammad Gohar Shah, Mr. Abdul Qahar Wadan, Dr Syed Ghazi Gulab Jamal and Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub.
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