18th Amendment: provinces empowered to initiate power projects, says minister

Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf has said that the provinces have been empowered to initiate projects for electricity generation after the passage of 18th Constitutional Amendments. The minister stated here on Tuesday during the meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power.
The meeting was presided over by Mir Lashkari Raisani and discussed problems with respect to supply of electricity by the official of WAPDA in Balochistan. The Minister said that although the provinces were empowered to construct their own power projects, they lacked capacity and are unable to initiate electricity generation projects.
The Minister said that smart meter project had been launched to curtail power theft in industrial areas of Lahore and Islamabad. "The law and order situation has been the major problem for the official in this regard. Power theft has increased manifold due to law and order situation in the province," said an official of Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO).
The official said that non-payment of dues by the federal and provincial government on account of power subsidy differential was also creating financial constraints for them. The total outstanding dues against federal and provincial government are Rs 28 billion, he added. On this, the committee recommended that the provincial government should release at least 40 percent of the total outstanding immediately.
There were 193 incidents of sabotage during the last seven years, in which electric towers were destroyed in various areas and five employees were martyred due to land mines, the meeting was informed. The QESCO said that there were 4975 illegal tube-wells in the province and it was impossible to disconnect power supply to them due to law and order situation.
The official also complained that the provincial government was not providing adequate security to the official of the electricity provider. A committee was also constituted for formulation of standard operating procedure for safe working and early restoration of electricity supply in the province.