Devolving power: PESCO transfer plan stokes plea for more concessions

Islamabad to gradually hand over control of all power distribution companies to provinces.

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday approved a plan to hand over administrative control of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, prompting calls for provincial independence over electricity production and more federal concessions.

Moments after news broke of the premier authorising the Water and Power Ministry to write a letter to the K-P government regarding the administrative control of Pesco, Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak issued a statement demanding more concessions.

In a press statement issued on Sunday, Khattak welcomed the federal government’s move to hand over Pesco to the K-P government. But at the same time, the chief minister also called upon Islamabad to surrender the ‘production rights of electricity’ to the province.

Gaining control of Pesco is an encouraging sign, Khattak said, but for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa it is important to be more independent in matters of electricity production.

That is why, he said, the federal government should also hand over the management of the 4,200 megawatt hydroelectricity generated from the province.

Khattak voiced hope that the prime minister would soon free up Rs100 billion that is “payable to the province” on account of hydroelectricity.

‘Premature response’

The Prime Minister House dismissed the PTI-led provincial government’s reaction as premature. “The reaction of the K-P government should come once it has reviewed the detailed letter from the water and power ministry,” an official from the PM House said.

“Only then will its [PTI’s] reaction be taken on logical grounds. So far, we have just forwarded the authorisation of the PM to the water and power ministry on the demands of Imran Khan.”

In accordance with PTI chief Imran Khan’s wishes, the said letter inviting the provincial government to take over the reins of the power distribution company will be written to Khattak in a few days.

“On the request of the water and power ministry, the prime minister has authorised it principally to write a letter to the K-P government to formally take control of Pesco. The letter will be written in the next couple of days,” the PM House statement read.

PM Nawaz is acting in line with the 18th Amendment, which allows provincial bodies to oversee generation and distribution of electricity.

Officials told The Express Tribune that Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif issued a response to Imran Khan’s demand, and also consulted with the premier regarding the matter. It was then decided that the ministry would send PM a formal request to give his consent for handing over the reins of Pesco to the provincial authorities.The request was received at the Prime Minister House on Saturday and his consent was given soon after.

The move comes days after Imran Khan said the K-P government would eliminate power theft and generate cheap electricity if Pesco was handed over to them.

Other provinces to follow suit

The move to devolve power to K-P is the first step taken by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)-led federal government to gradually hand over control of power distribution companies to provincial governments.

PML-N’s MNA Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan said that in the previous regime Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had asked the PPP-led federal government to hand over control of the power distributing companies to Punjab, but it refused to comply.

Sindh pleads for same rights

After a meeting with PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has decided that the province would ask the federal authorities to hand over control of electricity distribution companies in the same way proposed for K-P.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2013.