PAC questions power ministry’s circular debt explanation

Says despite low global petroleum prices Pakistan’s growing debt unfathomable

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday was briefed on the country’s crippling circular debt which currently stands at Rs402 billion.

The meeting was informed that the current government has cleared outstanding amount of Rs480 billion in May 2013. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah.

Secretary Water and Power Yousaf Naseem Khokhar informed the committee that as on April 28, outstanding amount payable to independent Power Producers (IPPs) stood at Rs226.664 billion, whereas an amount of Rs237.836 billion was payable to IPPs and so on.

Similarly the outstanding amount payable to Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and other sectors stood at Rs37.361 billion, whereas debt services remained Rs16.582 billion.

Shah however was not convinced over the briefing given by Ministry of Water and Power and said in 2013, international petroleum prices were more than double as compared to the current price, yet the country faces circular debt issues.

Similarly, he said the tariff rates being charged to the consumers were also higher as compared to the tariffs in 2013. He asked the ministry that despite these advantageous factors, why the ministry could not control circular debt?

When he asked the ministry officials to provide total recoveries from hydel power project, the officials could not provide the required data.

Earlier, the meeting was informed that so far the government had added 5,447 megawatts (MW) installed capacity to the national grid while 3,111MW more electricity would be added to the grid by December 2017.

Qamar questioned that despite addition of more electricity, why load shedding could not be controlled?

Khokhar said the for the past year, the industrial sector was being provided round the clock electricity and in the domestic sector, the time period of load shedding has also been reduced considerably.

The meeting was also attended by members of parliament Raja Muhammad Javed Ikhlas, Muhammad Junaid Anwar, Rana Afzal Hussain, Sherry Rehman, Mian Abdul Mannan, Mushahid Hussain Syed, Rohail Asghar, Dr Darshan, Muhammad Arshad Leghari, Azra Fazal Pechuho and Auditor General of Pakistan Imran Iqbal.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2017.

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