KARACHI: Ismail Suttar, President of Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP), the Apex Body of Manufacturers of Pakistan, while citing the recent remarks by Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) of Government having failed to successfully negotiate with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) due to harsh and unjustified terms, labelled it a complete hogwash and that IPPs were actually being given a golden egg to accept "take and pay" option.

In a statement, EFP president said that He further added that the claim of PPIB of having no links of itself with the IPPs is malifided, whereas aforementioned news was actually broken by inside sources of PPIB. The EFP President stated that anybody who sides with the IPPs is party to the abusive use of public tax money and hence, a traitor to the country.

"Currently in Pakistan over 60 percent of the electricity generation is done through fuel-fired power plants that has added a significant dent to the oil import bill in the recent past. The total consumption of petroleum products in the country just surpassed 19.7 million tons which is alarming when there is abundant source to generate energy using non renewables. In the last 5 years, 10,000 MW of power generation was added (but not utilized), due to which the government had to pay additional capacity payment charges and in that too in dollars to the new IPPs", he opined.

Ismail Suttar further said that The Government is already faced with dwindling foreign reserves and having to pay in dollars to the IPPs on top of it is suicidal and a compromise of national security. If institutions like PPIB, NEPRA, etc. cannot expose the twisted ordeals of the IPPs that are causing government to pay excessive amounts [from taxpayers' money] amid a highly dilapidated transmission structure then the national coordination committee set up by Hon'ble Prime Minister must revise roles of involved government organizations in dealing with IPPs. EFP president has demanded for full-scope forensic auditing of the IPPs.-PR

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020