The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has declined the Federal government's proposal to take over the financial and administrative responsibilities of the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (PESCO) and urged the federation to take steps for provincialization of DISCOs.
In a letter written to Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif by the Chief Minister KP and available with APP, it was pointed out that PESCO was currently facing a huge shortfall of approximately Rs200 billion per annum along with Rs30 billion per annum in receivables.
At present, PESCO was enjoying a uniform national tariff due to the tariff differential subsidy which could be at risk if the existing structure of the power sector was altered, it said, adding that the KP province was under severe stress due to current law and order situation and militancy coupled with low economic and social indicators and could not take over PESCO.
The CM said that the proposal could be considered if power generation was handed over to KP along with the income from electricity generation which would entail handing over of all federally owned hydropower stations to the province.
The CM referring to a report of the "Out of box solution committee" headed by the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, said that its report should be placed before the Council of Common Interest (CCI) in the next meeting for consideration.
He further proposed that a ministerial-level committee should be set up to deliberate upon the "Provincialization of DISCOs" for accommodating the viewpoints of the provinces.
The letter mentioned the poor financial and administrative conditions of the DISCOs.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2023.
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