CCI Meeting: Premier warns provinces over unpaid power bills

Accord­ing to claims of federa­l govern­ment, provin­ces have to pay more than Rs425 billio­n power sector dues.

ISLAMABAD:

The issue regarding power sector dues compelled the prime minister to threaten provinces with a halt of power supply if pending bills are not cleared.

At the 11th meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) – the highest body that centrally deals with affairs of the provinces – Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf informed participants that the federal government has already injected around Rs186 billion worth of subsidies into the power sector during 2012-2013, an amount that exceeds the Rs185 billion reserved in subsidies for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2013.

“Unless the provinces and consumers pay the bills, it will be difficult to maintain supply of power,” the premier was quoted as telling participants of the CCI meeting.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Communication Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan, Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali, Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani, Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Governor Balochistan Nawab Zufiqar Ali Magsi, Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Provincial Law Minister Punjab Rana Sanaullah, and other senior government officials.

According to the claims of the federal government, the provinces have to pay more than Rs425 billion worth of power sector dues. As of December 2012, the Sindh government had to pay Rs54 billion, Punjab Rs11 billion, Balochistan Rs1.5 billion, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rs2.5 billion, and KESC Rs50 billion.

The provinces disputed these figures.

“The representatives of the provinces assured the council of paying the actual amounts owed and disputed the claims raised by the Federation” said the official statement.

According to an official handout issued after the meeting, a committee comprising Federal Ministers Syed Khursheed Shah and Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has been constituted to reconcile the figures between federal government and provinces and to develop a mechanism to ensure that there is no discrepancy in the future.

Reviewing the earlier decisions of the CCI regarding the power situation in the country, PM Ashraf said the exploration and production of coal from Thar was one of the foremost priorities of the government. The decision taken by the government to use the Thar coal as fuel for future thermal plants was discussed in length.

The premier was told that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was assisting in construction of a 600MW thermal power plant with an estimated cost of 900 million dollars. The plant at Jamshoro will use Thar coal. Additionally, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had also shown interest in the construction of a power plant, besides just laying down lines from Thar to Maitari for transmission of electricity.

Regarding the progress made on the directives given by the council to the ministry of water and power for generation companies (GENCOs) to enter into an agreement with the Thar Coal Energy Board, the prime minister said that the issue should be finalized within seven days.

Ashraf also directed the finance ministry to process Sindh’s request for providing sovereign guarantee to the Chinese company interested in mining of Thar coal and setting up a power plant.

Among other things discussed, the participants were also informed that of the 3 million incandescent bulbs (energy savers), one million are expected to be distributed to consumers by March this year.

The CCI also took up the issue of the regularization of services of lady health workers. The federal government decided to regularize their services and cover until 2017.

Chairman Railways Board Arif Azim sensitized the council about the problems facing Pakistan Railways. In his briefing during the meeting, he said that presently 152 locomotives are in operation and it is expected that an additional 302 locomotives will be added to the fleet by the end of this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2013.