Liquidation: Plans ready to wind up PEPCO

Documents reveal that employees will be absorbed in LESCO and NTDC

LAHORE: The government has finally decided to wind up Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), documents available with the Express Investigation Cell revealed.

The committees set up by the new managing director of PEPCO, Umer Rasool, have completed 80 per cent paperwork for shutting down the power company.  Since October 2007, WAPDA has been bifurcated into two distinct entities i.e. WAPDA and PEPCO. WAPDA is responsible for water and hydropower development whereas PEPCO is vested with the responsibility of thermal power generation, transmission, distribution and billing.

According to available documents, PEPCO will be wound up in a few weeks and around 450 employees of the company on pay scale 1 to 20 will be adjusted in National Transmission and Distribution Company (NTDC) and Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO).

In this regard, a written directive of PEPCO Director Human Resources Saghir Ahmed has been given final shape and will be approved by the managing director, most likely in coming week. The decision to wind up PEPCO is meant to put to rest the row between ministry of water and power, NTDC, distribution companies (DISCOs) and PEPCO, according to the documents. The demise of the PEPCO will follow empowering of the board of directors of the DISCOs giving them more responsibilities and authority.



Meanwhile, sources privy to the matter disclosed that the top bosses of LESCO and NTDC have expressed their reservations over absorbing the PEOPCO staff and demanded equal distribution of the redundant workers in all DISCOs.

According to a document, PEPCO General Manager Customer Services has suggested that after winding up the company, a power directorate should be set up in the ministry of water and
power to monitor the performance of the distribution and generation companies and also the NTDC.

However, sources disclosed that GM Human Resources Mohammad Saeed and Director Carriage Management Mehr Zakir Hussain Kathia are still against dissolution of PEPCO. Both the officials have also opposed liquidation of PEPCO in the previous government. They are known to have created bureaucratic hurdles that prevented the past government from announcing the winding up of PEPCO.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2015.