Govt takes big step to deal with IPP challenge

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to look into the issues of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) besides taking steps to bring generation cost of electricity down.

This was announced by the Minister for Power Division Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari and Special Assistant to Prime Minister, Muhammad Ali in a joint recorded policy statement after an internal meeting on power sector current issues.

The Power Minister said on the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that a task force on implementation of structural reforms in power sector has been constituted to review all the aspects for improvement in power sector.

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He said the PM has assigned him the responsibility of chairman of the task force. The task force would review in detail all issues pertaining to power sector reforms. All the government institutions would coordinate to implement the reforms in letter and spirit, he said.

He said we have little time and it is imperative to provide dividend to the nation and the consumers. He said that since its inception, the incumbent government under the leadership of Shehbaz Sharif had started working on bringing structural reforms in the power sector and around 20 to 22 key points were identified in this regard.

Co-chairman of the task force, Muhammad Ali who has been allotted office in the Power Division instead of Prime Minister Office for frequent interaction with the Minister, said that the first meeting of the Task Force was held on Thursday adding that in coming days, it would meet on a daily basis. The Term of Reference (TORs) of the Task Force have already been devised, he said and added that the Task Force would also look into the issues of IPPs besides taking steps to bring generation cost of the electricity down.

Muhammad Ali maintained that circular debt, privatisation of Discos and commercial dealing of electricity are key issues to be sorted out within one and half years. Five of the government’s own power generation plants of 2500 MW will also be closed down.

The Power Minister said that power sector was the backbone of any economy and the government was committed to bringing reforms to enhance its efficiency.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024