• PM Kakar vows no quarter for those guilty of non-payment or stealing electricity
• Reiterates commitment to IMF; lender ‘turns down’ govt’s relief proposals, seeks new roadmap
• Premier expecting $25bn in investments from Saudi Arabia over five years
• Says all political parties, including PTI, will get ‘level-playing field’ for polls

ISLAMABAD: Just over a week after he convened an ‘emergency moot’ to find ways to give immediate relief to the public angry over rising electricity bills, interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has now promised “out-of-the-box solutions” to provide respite to inflation-hit power consumers.

After making lofty commitments, the government had to flip-flop on its promises for relief after it failed to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to dole out subsidies for electricity consumers. This is evident from the fact that despite week-long protests and shutter-down strikes, the caretaker government has refused to budge on the issue, citing agreements with the IMF.

Sources said the power and finance divisions were reportedly in talks with IMF representatives, focusing on evaluating the potential impact of relief measures on circular debt, cash flow, and independent power producers (IPPs). Though there was no official word on these talks, sources said the government in its relief proposal put the estimated impact at around Rs6.5 billion, but the IMF insisted it should be somewhere around Rs15 billion.

In the proposal, the IMF was informed by the Pakistan government that relief provisions would have an impact of less than Rs6.5 billion. The IMF, however, put the impact at about Rs15 billion and dismissed the plan, seeking a new roadmap for fiscal adjustments to cover the loss.

In an interaction with the foreign press corps on Monday, the interim PM said ‘realistic’ options to provide relief to the consumers were still being explored.

“The government would make informed decisions to satisfy the masses on the issue of electricity bills without deviating from the country’s commitments with the international financial institutions,” he added.

Action against power theft

Speaking about circular debt, power theft and taxes, the interim premier said the government would introduce “short-term solutions” to sort out the issue.

Earlier in the day, the prime minister presided over a meeting regarding the power sector, where he ordered immediate action against defaulters as well as those involved in power theft in the country and asked the relevant authorities to submit reports in this regard on a daily basis.

The meeting was informed about the total installed capacity, actual generation and overall energy supply during various seasons. The prime minister was also informed about the energy mix in power production. PM Kakar stressed that in future the renewable and hydel sources of energy should be given top priority to produce cheap and green energy in the country.

He also directed to take effective measures to reduce the line losses of the power distribution companies. “A comprehensive plan should also be prepared and presented to implement the transformer metering project,” he said.

He said small hydel power projects should be planned under the guidance of relevant experts. Such projects will not only generate low-cost electricity but also help in reducing the harmful effects of climate change.

Economic revival

PM Kakar said that without redesigning the government structure, the interim setup was mainly focused on rearranging the fiscal and monetary policies to build an edifice for economic revival.

Calling the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) a strategy for economic revival, he said it focused on agriculture, mines and minerals, defence production, and information technology. However, he also spelt out the economic reform agenda of his government, saying that the imminent steps included the privatisation of two or more power distribution companies.

He said reforms were needed in taxation and power sectors, and his government would leave behind a foundation for mid-level reforms. He said the interim government was pursuing a policy of doing the doable and providing a strategic direction to economic planning.

Talking about the terror attacks by the TTP, Mr Kakar drew attention to the military equipment left behind by the United States and allied forces in Afghanistan. He said the foreign forces left Afghanistan after losing interest but “we are here to defend our home, children, mosques and places of worship”.

Responding to a query, the prime minister said the government had an “excellent working environment” with the Pakistan Army and both were working together for economic revival.

Prime Minister Kakar said regardless of any political association, the people of Balochistan welcomed every project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which had entered its second phase.

Referring to the massive reserves worth $6 trillion of copper and gold in Balochistan, the prime minister said the Reko Diq project was about to start. He called for all the stakeholders to formulate a model to explore the mineral-rich area. The prime minister expressed the hope that foreign investment projects worth $25 billion each from Saudi Arabia and the Middle East would be realised in a time span of two to five years.

Level playing field in polls

He assured that the caretaker government was mandated to facilitate holding the general elections as early as possible while observing the constitutional obligations. He claimed the Constitution called for carrying out the delimitation of constituencies following the population census. He did not mention the constitutional requirement of general polls within 90 days following the dissolution of an assembly.

Answering a question, he said all the registered political parties would be provided a level playing field to contest the general elections without any discrimination.

According to Voice of America, the interim premier responded to a question about the participation of the PTI in elections, saying that why was such a question being raised that PTI will not be allowed to participate in the elections. “No political party is being prevented from political activities,” he added. However, he said in certain instances, political behaviour turned into vandalism and the country’s law was already in vogue to deal with such conduct.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2023