The World Bank is said to have held the previous government and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) responsible for addition of more than Rs 500 billion to the Circular Debt (CD) in FY2021-22 as many prior actions were not taken on time.

It is important to note that World Bank Group has been supporting Pakistan’s energy sector for a long time and is committed to continuing to support the development of the sector through a portfolio of investments in Renewable Energy, including in Pakistan’s major hydropower plants, Tarbela and Dasu, as well as projects to improve transmission and distribution efficiency.

The incumbent government needs to take note of the fact that the World Bank has clearly censured the power regulator in particular. This regulator, along with many other regulators, needs to pull its socks up without any further loss of time.

All of them lack capacity to do the job expected of them, thereby adversely affecting every government’s ability to deal with the myriad challenges facing the country. Noted economist Dr Ishrat Husain had made some highly valuable suggestions aimed at improving the performance of regulators in his three-year association with the previous government. What happened to those recommendations?

Shahid Ahmar (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022