Planning Commission tells Senate body: Govt unable to maintain uninterrupted power supply at Rs8/unit rate

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Planning Commission here informed the Senate Standing Committee on Finance that government is unable to maintain uninterrupted power supply for 24 hours at Rs 8 per unit to the consumers as Rs 1 billion per day loss is being sustained following difference in higher purchase price of power and its lower sale price.

Sharing reasons for the power crisis in the country, he informed the committee chaired by Senator Nasreen Jalil that thermal power generation costs $ 7000 per MW with project completion period of four years, nuclear power generation by $ 5.5 million per MW with long period of project completion, hydel power projects which generate cheaper power take 7 years to complete, solar power generation projects can be completed within 6 months but these are expensive in investment.

He also informed the committee that one solar power generation was costing $ 4 per unit which has now decreased to $ 1 at present and many countries are now opting for it. The rate of imported gas ranges between $ 14 to $ 16 per mmbtu and locally gas price is $ 7 to $ 8 per mmbtu. Some members of the committee opined that government should allocate higher funds for power generation rather for subsidising the power for general public.

Secretary Finance informed the committee that there is no subsidy allocation for the state owned enterprises in the country, only Pakistan Railways is being paid grant. However, the debt of the state owned enterprises are going up and this would hit the banks from where they are meeting their funding needs or federal government would be required to give them bail-out packages for their existence.

He further informed that at present subsidy is being provided to power sector, Passco for wheat and other commodity operations, fertilizer sector, and wheat reserve stock maintenance. Cabinet Committee on Restructuring of Public Sector Enterprises is making efforts for improvement in their governance structure to as to improve their financial health.