ISLAMABAD: Minister of Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Thursday informed a parliamentary panel that the K-Electric management was mulling over selling shares to a South Korean company.
“The management of K-Electric invests some amount in the entity and sells shares at double the price to another investor,” Asif said while giving a briefing to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Water and Power, chaired by MNA Arshad Leghari.
According to the minister, the government had also reservations about the sale of shares by the company, earlier called Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), back in 2005 and 2009. He argued that the company was purchasing electricity at cheaper rates and selling at higher prices to the consumers. It was consuming furnace oil after a decline in natural gas supplies, but was getting price differential from the federal government. “And if the government takes action against K-Electric, courts issue stay orders.”
Talking about water reservoirs, Asif said the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had sent a list of 11 small dams and the centre would extend all possible support to complete these projects.
Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project Chief Executive Officer Lieutenant General (Retired) Muhammad Zubair told the committee that the 969-megawatt project could drag on if funds were not arranged immediately by the government. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.
“Funds are not available and if the situation persists, the project will not be completed on time.” It is facing a financial gap of $475 million and various avenues are being explored by the government.
“Negotiations with the Exim Bank of China are going on for reaching an agreement on additional financing and the Economic Affairs Division has requested for $200 million,” Zubair said. A delegation of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development is visiting Islamabad for the past few days for talks on $32 million worth of financing. The amount will be spent on completion of the dam and the switch yard. According to Zubair, 68% development work on the project has been completed while 78% work on the tunnel has been done. Total cost of the project is estimated at Rs136 billion and Rs3 billion is needed every month.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2014.
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