Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation chairperson resigns

Durrani calls the PEDO administration ineffective and dysfunctional

PESHAWAR: Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) Board of Directors Chairperson Shakil Durrani resigned from his post and accused Minister for Energy and Power Muhammad Atif and Chief Executive Officer Akbar Ayub for making the organisation dysfunctional.

While talking to The Express Tribune, he said he had also submitted a resignation letter to the chief minister two months ago but it was not accepted. Therefore, he submitted another letter 15 days later, he confirmed. His resignation was accepted on Tuesday.

"I was going to head the board meeting on Wednesday and had decided to order an enquiry into Ranolia and Machai hydro power projects completed in 2015,” he said. He added the projects were completed at highly inflated rates but transmission lines were never erected to connect the projects with the national grid. “Due to lack of transmission lines, PEDO is losing Rs40 million per month.” He said the resignation was accepted by the minister and the CEO because they did not want the enquiry to be conducted.



In his lengthy resignation letter, Durrani called the PEDO administration ineffective and dysfunctional. "I made every effort to revive the organisation but both the energy minister and the CEO lacked interest in improving matters and wanted to retain arbitrary control,” he lamented. “This is why not a single hydro power project was completed in nearly three years.”

The letter also stated the CEO extended timeframe of the Ranolia hydro power project without any approval from the board of directors and also awarded around Rs700 million to the company’s contractor. The letter called the organisation a defective structure which lacked a core team of professionals. “This is why top management does whatever it fantasises.”

"The CEO and his newly inducted private sector team had little to no ownership of the organisation which led a total lack of transparency and accountability,” he said. “The management is totally unresponsive.”



While evaluating the company’s performance in past three years, he said the only ¬functioning project by the organisation is of Malakand III which was i¬nitiated in 2002 and completed in 2006. The letter sent to the chief minister also stated the PEDO CEO’s current salary was ¬Rs1.4 million per month but he wanted a raise of Rs 1.8 million which was not feasible. On the other hand, the new chief financial officer  and the HR personnel are paid between Rs0.6-0.8 ¬million per month.

While comparing the employees’ salaries in various organisations, he said Wapda officials get around Rs0.6 million per month even though WAPDA is hundred times larger than PEDO. The immense diff¬erential between the newly appointed priv¬ate sector personnel and the existing sta¬ff of Pedo is causing great heart burn an¬d paralysing the working of the organisation. Even the engineers and other staff members do not have a working relationship with the CEO.

“The current CEO was¬ appointed without having any engineering degree only because of his close ties with Asad Umar,” he explained. “I do not see much hope for the future in this dysfunctional organisational structure.”

While refusing the accusations put forward by Shakil Durrani, the PEDO CEO said these were his personal views. “He had previously served as Wapda chairperson and wanted to run PEDO the same way instead of following the rules set forth by the K-P government,” he added.  “The K-P government is involving the private sector just like Punjab.”

Regarding the transmission lines for Machai and Ranolia hydro power projects, the CEO said Peshawar Electric Supply Company and National Transmission and Dispatch Company were working on the transmission lines. He refuted the claim that he awarded and approved Rs700 million for Ranolia project without the board’s approval. "The funds are approved at various administrative levels and changes are made at each level."

He said PEDO has completed 53 mini micro hydel power projects during the incumbent government’s reign and has also excavated 1400 megawatts projects. He said 666 megwatts projects were advertised to attract investments from the private sector and that PEDO had received more than 56 proposals from different national and international corporations for the advertised projects.