ISLAMABAD: The government’s seriousness to deal with the issues of the power sector was questioned as NTDC was without permanent CEO from last eight years and GENCOs without chief engineer and MDs.
Members one after another, during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Power presided over by Senator Saifullah Abro on Monday, expressed their displeasure over the absence of the Minister for Power and CEO K-Electric from appearing in the meeting and decided to take action against them by issuing summon against CEO K-Electric and moving privilege motion against the minister.
The committee chairman remarked that usually officials do not turn up in the meeting when they have no appropriate explanation on the issues. He further stated that the power sector has been deteriorating due to the poor performance of the Power Division and its offices.
The committee has asked K-Electric to provide details of its Rs475 billion investment in the projects from 2009 till now. The meeting also noted that K-Electric owes Rs298 billion to the government on account of circular debt.
The committee also called for a briefing on the problems of Karachi’s electricity consumers and the K-Electric representative informed that annual investment was being made even in the years when losses incurred.
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On the issue of GENCOs, the committee said that the affairs in GENCOs were disappointment as these GENCOs have no chief engineer. The committee expressed gross disappointment and displeasure at the‘incompetent and inappropriate’ CEO, GENCO II and III who had no knowledge of the field and came unprepared to the committee meeting.
The committee also showed great reservation on the recovery amount from GE in light of letters issued by the Power Division regarding the recovery of amount from GE (Rs10.8 billion) and maintenance amount P.O $ 32 million regarding damage of 747MW (GT-14) and action taken against BoD, GHCL and BoD, GENCO-II.
The chairman committee raised question as to how come P.O $32 million was released and stressed that the amount may be recovered. The committee believed that the implementation of the promotion policy for graduate engineers from LS-II to SDO in all Discos is necessary for the improvement of Discos.
The committee gave directives to implement the deployment of 20 per cent engineers to all Discos and recommendation to IESCO, LESCO, and PESCO to implement the policy by the last week of January. The committee members were displeased over Mepco refusal and directed the Power Division to approve the implementation of the quota from the Board of MEPCO within a week.
While taking serious exception to the absence of the minister and CEO K-Electric, the committee decided to issue summon to the CEO K-Electric and move privilege Senate Standing Committee on Power had shown their motion against the minister.
In a letter addressed to the chairman Senate, the committee noted that it is to inform the K-Electric CEO had not attended the meetings from 6th October 2021 to 30th October 2022 (total 18 meetings) and was found creating delays/ hurdles in the committee business and was not complying appropriately with the agendas’ recommendations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023