If gas provided to the CPPs is diverted to other public utilities, it would have resulted in efficient utilisation.
KARACHI: The chairman of the All-Pakistan CNG Association recently lamented that captive power plants (CPP), which benefit a select group of industrialists, are causing a colossal loss to the economy. He believes the loss to be to the tune of Rs70 billion. These CPPs generate electricity by getting gas on a cheap rate. This policy of providing cheap gas to the CPPs is not only a drain on a precious resource but also smacks of political favouritism.
If the gas provided to the CPPs is diverted to other public utilities, it would have resulted in more efficient utilisation and the public at large would have benefited. In Karachi, the KESC has been urging the CPPs to utilise its electricity as a primary source of power and let the gas, thus available, to be used for power-generation by the KESC, which will minimise or eliminate power outages in Karachi. On its part, the KESC disconnected power supply to those CPPs that had been using the KESC as a back-up and its principled stand was upheld by the Sindh High Court last year.
The chairman of the association, while quoting the data of the Sui Southern Gas Company and the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, said that CPPs were getting 454mmcfd gas per day, of which 327mmcfd were lost due to their inefficiency. If the government could overcome this huge loss of over 300mmcfd, power cuts in the country can be controlled to a great extent.
Shahzad Warraich
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2013.
