Power crisis: Govt’s credibility in curbing corruption in RPPs questioned

WAPDA’s counsel blames previous regime.

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry questioned the credibility of the democratic government in curbing corruption with special reference to rental power projects (RPPs) in the face of crippling power shortages and external debt.

He was hearing a suo motu case coupled with two identical petitions on irregularities in the award of contracts to rental power companies on Thursday. “People would like to know how the contracts were awarded to rental power companies without floating tenders and advertisements,” said the CJ.

Pakistan foreign debt has reached up to $67 billion. Counsel for Wapda and Pepco Tariq Rahim said the previous regime was responsible for misallocations. “The government failed to design a policy to deal with the electricity crisis,” the CJ remarked. “If there was a comprehensive power policy, it should have been presented before the court.”

Rahim contended that the petitioners had highlighted Rs50 billion embezzlement in the auditor general’s report which was false. Total mobilisation advance paid to rental power companies was Rs18 billion. Prominent lawyers have been defending rental power companies, but in some cases there is tangible evidence that they reneged on their agreements.

The chief justice said petitioners objected to corruption in RPPs. He asked whether parliament or the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had approved RPPs. “The apex court has the jurisdiction to make a decision in case of violation of rules. Lawyers marched on November 3 2007, for the supremacy of the constitution, it would be sad if history is repeated after four years,” the CJ remarked.

According to figures, independent power producers (IPPs) have the capacity to produce 4891 megawatts (MWs) of electricity, but they are only producing 2319 MWs, because of shortage of fuel, Rahim said. Replying to a question, he answered the government lacked the funds to provide fuel. Justice Khilji asked why no effort was made to check power theft.

The contracts of rental power companies which failed to produce electricity within the stipulated period should be cancelled, the CJ said. “Not a single company provided a commercial operational date and yet the government is relying on them.” He said they would not be pardoned for failing to produce electricity. Wapda’s counsel suggested that the companies may be fined.

He said RPPs were debated in parliament for five days but no parliamentarian was present. “The PAC headed by Khawaja Asif and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was briefed but they did not raise any objection and now they are misguiding the court by providing wrong figures.”

The CJ remarked there would have been no need for RPPs had the IPPs’ performance been improved. “Billions of rupees were invested in rental power projects but they produce less than 100 MWs.” He asked the counsel if the cabinet had the power to infringe PEPRA rules, to which the counsel replied in the negative. The court adjourned the case till Friday (today).

Chairman for special committee elected

In an effort to address the national power crisis, the national assembly unanimously elected Usman Tarakai as chairman of the special committee mandated to examine the reasons behind the magnitude of the power shortage and make recommendations for improvement, according to an official statement.

(ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY OUR CORRESPONDENT IN ISLAMABAD)

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th,  2011.