SEPCO, HESCO: Sindh representatives find place on company boards

Boards reconstituted after previous members failed to achieve targets

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Water and Power, in major reform initiatives, has appointed highly qualified directors and representatives of the Sindh government on the boards of Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) and Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) for better management of public utilities.

According to a statement issued by the ministry, the step was imperative in view of the fact that previous board members had failed to live up to expected performance standards and were unable to achieve the targets agreed in a performance contract signed with the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) in 2014.

Among representatives of the Sindh government, the commissioners of Sukkur and Larkana have started sitting on the Sepco board and the commissioners of Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas have become part of the Hesco board.

Until recently, the two power supplying companies had been in a constant state of deterioration, which was blamed on bad governance and mismanagement.

The Ministry of Water and Power said it had taken significant steps to address the situation and its efforts brought about significant and tangible improvement in the affairs of the two companies, which were considered the worst-performing power distributors.



In order to turn things around and improve governance, the government has reconstituted the boards. “The government has chosen energetic, competent, capable and qualified individuals to act as independent directors,” the ministry said.

The newly constituted boards have started functioning and, according to the ministry, the chairman of each of them has been elected in accordance with the Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules 2013. Both of them are from Sindh.

In Sepco, Nisar Ahmed Siddique, an MBA from Boston University who was awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz recently, has been picked by the board as its chairman. Siddique, who has served at top-level government positions including the commissioner of Sukkur, is also credited with establishing the Institute of Business Administration in Sukkur.

In Hesco, Nazar Hussain Mahar has been elected as the board chairman. He has experience of managing public-sector entities and retired from government service in 2010 as a federal secretary, after working on a number of national and international projects. He last served as chairman of the Sindh Revenue Board.

The Ministry of Water and Power said it expected better service delivery from the new boards and improved performance by the two power distribution companies.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2015.

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