Qamar rules out privatisation of power firms

Govt to hire competent people to improve efficiency.

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar has ruled out privatisation of power companies and pledged that competent people will be hired to make these companies efficient.

Talking to the media after an award distribution ceremony of the 11th mid-career management course for senior officers on Thursday, Qamar said power companies would not be privatised rather they would be made efficient with the assistance of professionals.

Replying to a question on closure of power plants, he said the Chashma Power Plant-II went out of order due to some technical fault, but in a few days it is expected to start supplying 300 megawatts.

Though the government had injected Rs120 billion to bring down the circular debt, the amount had started piling up again due to non-payment of electricity bills by certain departments, he said. “The government is trying to minimise targeted subsides.”

He said chief executive officers of all power distribution companies had been asked to disconnect power supply to defaulters, adding these companies had issued notices to various public and private sector organisations asking them to clear their dues.

He stressed that efforts were being made to reduce outages and eight to nine projects would come on line soon as they were already in the testing phase.

Commenting on the strike staged by employees of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), Qamar said the company administration had been directed to resolve the issue amicably. He said KESC had placed around 4,000 employees in the surplus pool, adding “privatisation does not mean that the company remains oblivious to people’s needs.”

Earlier, speaking to the participants of the course, the minister said the civil bureaucracy was the backbone of the administrative structure of the country. “So far, we have not been able to develop Pakistan as a strong progressive nation. We are on the path of development, but we still have a long distance to cover.”

After the 18th Amendment, he said, there were drastic changes in the Constitution and responsibilities of civil servants increased manifold.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2011.