Equipment worth around Rs 25.6 million acquired by Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), which has been crying for mammoth financial losses, is laying unused for the last one year. The Company had purchased costly equipment, like the safety belts, shoes, safety robs for its working staffs last year, by Hussain and Habib Company Karachi.
A local manufacturing company which are mostly not used by them in daily business, sources told Business Recorder on Monday. The public utility had bought seven thousand safety shoes (namely the Jogger Shoes) of worth Rs 1,690 each making the total Rs 11.83 million but, as the sources said adding, no staff was wearing the shoes, while doing the job.
The 800 safety belts, worth of Rs 8.46 million was purchased as per Rs 10,580 each was dumped at KESC stores without use. It may be mentioned here that the actual price of these safety belts was not more than three thousand each in the markets, they added.
According to sources, Safety robs, 1000 in quantity, had also been purchased by the company with the price of Rs 5,300 each and costing the utility of Rs 5.3 million was also not seen in use throughout the metropolis by its staff. They alleged that there was the interest of the company officials and contractors involved in this move to make money who mostly make these agreements not more than a paper work.
"While the company is facing acute financial crisis its officials, interestingly, do not hesitate to buy the costly things, burdening the privately run utility with more debts. They (officials) have the special interest of buying new things, as they are mostly offered commissions, by contractors and manufactures," they said.
Naveed Ismail, the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) had said in a press conference recently that, the 95 percent of KESC's generation were based on gas, as it was not able to use the costly furnace oil.
"The crisis-hit company's purchase of costly things, high salaries with perks and privileges to its officials, inability to control over the power theft etc were the prominent reasons of its failures, which in the control of Abraaj Capital, the current new management will bring "no change" in the near future," they added.
In reply to a query, KESC officials in the press conference had said that the company was carrying more of the personnel safety, as they were not allowing its staffs to do the dangerous job in heavy rains leaving the disruption of power till the climatic change. Giving these types of illogical directives to its staff, sources said, the purchase of the highly priced equipment were also not more than the loss of money.