The Hub Power Company Limited (Hubco) has demanded of the government to immediately release Rs 19 billion out of the overdue amount of Narowal Power Plant (NPP). The 225MW power plant located in Punjab is completely shut down due to non-availability of oil. We are unable to run power plant due to our inability to procure oil. We request the government to clear the dues so that we could help bridging the gap between power demand and supply by running our plant on immediate basis.
The plant can generate 225MW of electricity for national grid, thus can help immensely to reduce load shedding in the country, according to a press release issued on Wednesday. Zafar Iqbal Sobani, CEO Hubco said: "while we appreciate the appointment of Dr Musaddaq Malik, as Minister for Water and Power, we hope that he will take concrete steps to solve the issues being faced by the independent power producers." He said that industry is expecting better decisions from caretaker Minister to run country's efficient power sector at its full capacity. He also hoped that the new Water & Power Minister pays due attention to the non-payment issues being faced by IPPs and ensures balance treatment to all the IPPs with regard to their pending dues.
Further the government is only paying to IPPs based on their last day's generation hence Narowal is not being paid at all for the last three weeks as it is not generating power due to non-availability of fuel. Those IPPs which went to Supreme Court are receiving partial payments for generating power.-PR