Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) will achieve its target of village electrification by providing electricity to 15,000 villages comprising at least 10 houses each by the end of June 2007, directly benefiting almost 500,000 people.
This was stated by the Chairman Wapda, Tariq Hamid while addressing the inaugural session of two-day conference of chief executive officers (CEOs) of the power distribution companies (Discos) here in Wapda House on Friday.
Tariq hoped that Village Electrification Programme, which is underway in full swing, would meet its targets Inshallah, as promised to the nation by the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan.
While reviewing the progress of various Discos for the period July-December 2006, Tariq appreciated the efforts of companies in reducing overall line losses to 20.1 percent as compared to 21.1 percent during the corresponding period last year. He expected that if companies address the issue of line losses more vigorously, the figure will reduce to an acceptable level within next few years. He disclosed that during the 6-month period under review, Wapda has recovered Rs 140.1 billion which is Rs 12.25 billion more than what was collected during the same period last year.
He hoped that the revenue target for the fiscal year 2006-07 will be achieved. However, he stressed that in order to improve the financial health of the organisation, it is imperative to achieve much higher than the target. It was told in the meeting that recovery from Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (Fata) and Sindh was much behind the target.
He stressed the need of making all out efforts to materialise recoveries at a fast pace particularly from low recovery areas. He told the meeting that Wapda's recovery position will improve significantly if Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) pays as per tariff fixed by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra). Tariq Hamid stated that Nepra is being requested to pursue KESC for making payment to Wapda according to Nepra tariff.