KARACHI, March 19: Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission Chairman Lt-General (retd) Farooq Ahmed Khan has said that he would brief the caretaker Prime Minister Muhammadmian Soomro about the problems in supply of electricity to the city and would also present the possible solutions on his return to Islamabad.
In a meeting with the members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday, he noted that the business community of the city, which is an international hub of trade and industry, had been depressed due to the electricity crisis.
“The business community is the main source of revenue generation. Today, they seem disappointed and worried about how to run their business,” he said.
The chairman of PM’s Inspection Commission visited the Karachi Chamber on the directives of the caretaker PM, who was informed by the KCCI about the critical situation faced by the industrialists and traders due to worst shortfall in electricity supply through Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC).
Pepco managing director Munawar Baseer Ahmed and KESC chief executive officer Lt-Gen (retd) Syed Amjad briefed the meeting on their positions regarding the short supply of electricity.
They assured the KCCI members that they would try their best to resolve the issue at the earliest possible to save the country’s economy from further loss and to provide the relief to the common man.
Lt.-Gen. (retd) Farooq Ahmed suggested that the tariff dispute, if any, between the KESC and Nepra be resolved immediately so that the people of Karachi do not suffer more.
He agreed to the KCCI demand that the share of Karachi in the subsidy given by the federal government to Wapda be enhanced so that the KESC consumers get electricity on lower tariff.
He urged the trade associations and chambers to cooperate with the KESC in the load management and conservation of electricity for ultimate benefit to the community and the public.
He said Karachi was the biggest contributor to the national exchequer and certainly it deserved special support and care from the government on socio-economic fronts.
He also underlined the need for collective efforts of the community and the government, and the political will to maintain Karachi’s status as the city of lights and a ‘Mini Pakistan’.
He informed the businessmen that in the meeting held in Islamabad on Tuesday many issues relating to electricity generation and its smooth supply were discussed and resolved. Further decisions in this regard would be taken soon, he added.
Munawar Baseer strongly defended the Pepco/NTDC position and said it was not correct that the worst electricity breakdown paralysing the entire city on March 6, 2008 was the result of cut of the 300MW power supply from the NTDC to the KESC, which makes only 15 per cent of the latter’s total supply.
The National Transmission and Distribution Company (NTDC) is a subsidiary organisation of Pepco.He said the KESC had been getting electricity from Pepco for last couple of years without paying the bills, which have now reached around Rs14 billion. This had created serious problem for Pepco to continue its operations.
He further said that the Pakistan State Oil had already warned to suspend its oil supply “if we did not clear our bill owes to it within shortest possible time,” he added.
He assured that Pepco could supply even 700MW electricity to the KESC if this privatised entity cleared its bill.
He urged the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (owing Rs14.9 billion to KESC) and other government organisations to pay electricity bills to the KESC at the earliest so that the company could clear its account with Pepco and get power supply for the people of Karachi.
On Tuesday, he said, the KESC has made payment of only Rs500 million.
He informed the KCCI members that the NTDC network had shortfall of 2500MW as a result of shortage of water in the country. At least 1500MW of electricity would be added to the present quantum of electricity as soon as the snow melts during the coming summer.
He assured that Pepco would cooperate with the KESC to the possible extent for the good of the people of Karachi and the country. However, he said, KESC would have to arrange for new generation facilities to meet the city’s domestic and industrial power consumption.
“It should be kept in mind that Pepco/Wapda has no legal obligation to supply power to the KESC,” he said.
KESC Chief Executive Officer Lt-Gen (retd) Syed Amjad made it clear that his company could not clear the Pepco’s dues unless the government organisations pay the dues to his company.
Meanwhile, the KESC was striving to enhance its generation through various means, which includes the refurbishment of its generating plants.
The KESC chief once again blamed Pepco for the March 6 breakdown and requested the government to hold a high-level enquiry on this issue to fix the responsibility and due legal action be taken against the responsible.
Farooq Ahmed Khan supported his demand so that in future such incident causing loss of billions of rupees to Karachi and the country is not repeated.
