Inland Water Transport Authority to be established

Transport via sea route much cheaper than rail and road.

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar has agreed to set up Inland Water Transport Authority (IWTA) that will reduce fuel expenditures and make use of rivers and canal network in the country.

In a meeting on Monday, Qamar said that the creation of the body will facilitate water transport, which is much cheaper than road or rail. It will reduce prices of goods, cost of production and create more jobs, he said.

The minister said that the movement of passengers and goods plays a vital role in the economic activity of any country. Almost 96 per cent of the country’s freight is carried by road while less than four per cent is through rail.

The minister directed the ministry to formulate draft legislation for approval from the Council of Common Interests. He termed the creation of IWTA imperative.

The meeting also approved a pilot project on Indus River and asked Wapda and Pakistan Navy to take necessary steps, conduct a survey and prepare a navigation chart in this regard.

IPP contract issues to be tabled in Energy Summit

In another meeting, the Ministry of Water and Power decided to take up the issue of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines’ reluctance to extend gas supply agreements with four power plants in the upcoming Energy Summit.

The four power plants with a total capacity of 800 megawatts have a gas sales agreement with SNGPL for supply of 152 million cubic feet per day which will expire on June 30 this year. Sources say that the gas distributor is reluctant to extend the accord with Halmore, Orient, Sapphire and Saif – the four power plants.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the issue was taken up in a meeting of the Advisory Council of Independent Power Producers on Monday with Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar in the chair.

“The minister assured the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that the issue will be tabled in the Energy Summit for resolving it on priority basis,” a source said.

The IPPs body also expressed concern over delay in issuance of the notification of tariff determination by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra).

The minister said that the government was taking all possible measures to increase power generation and matters relating to IPPs like circular debt, tariff determination and allocation of gas will be resolved, according to a statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2011.