ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz on Saturday vowed provision of low-cost electricity to consumers on a sustainable basis.
Addressing a press conference along with Special Assistant on Power Shahzad Qasim in Islamabad on Saturday, he said it was the top priority of the government to facilitate people of Pakistan.
He said a basic agreement had been signed with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) as a first major step towards providing cheap electricity to consumers.
The minister regretted that expensive power contracts were signed in the past and it was not possible to undo them unilaterally.
Faraz said that expensive electricity was the main concern of Prime Minister Imran Khan and he wanted to address the issue on an immediate basis.
Hence, a team was constituted, which held negotiations with the IPPs to revisit the old contracts.
He went on to say that under the agreement signed with the IPPs, payments would only be made for the electricity acquired and consumed instead of the total installed capacity of a particular power plant.
Similarly, the equity return will now be made in PKR rather than the US dollar, as was the past practice.
Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant on Power Shahzad Qasim said under the MoU, late payment interest would be reduced from 4.5 percent to two percent.
He said the government was making all out efforts to finalise all modalities under the MoU with IPPs in two and a half year.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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