ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf has assured a Senate committee that loadshedding will end by the year-end, but hinted at an increase in power tariff.

“The tariff of rental power plants to be commissioned to add 4,500MW to the main grid will be linked to oil prices. Hence no guarantee can be given that the rates will not go up,” the minister told the Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power on Monday.

According to sources, members of the committee grilled the minister on what they termed the government’s faulty policies.

Expressing concern over the power crisis, the committee directed the ministry to work on a war footing to find a lasting, viable and practical solution to the problem.

Mr Ashraf said the government was alive to the grim and dismal situation which it had inherited.

“We are fully aware of the fact that power and energy are the most essential pre-requisites for development, but the situation has become compounded in our case due to certain peculiar conditions, for instance the issue of circular debt which stands at a colossal Rs400 billion.

This year too, we will be providing a subsidy of Rs65 billion to maintain electricity supply to lifeline consumers. The government owes a staggering amount of Rs158 billion to IPPs and we have arranged Rs75 billion in emergency to pay off nearly 50 per cent of the liabilities.”

He said that the tariff was being determined by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority on the basis of average production cost of eight companies. The authority had recommended a 61 per cent increase in rates but the government allowed only 31 per cent.

The minister said there were 3.5 million lifeline consumers and the government was determined not to burden them.

He said the situation would ease after about 4,500MW was added to the grid by December through rental units.

He expressed confidence that there would be no loadshedding after Dec 31 this year.

He said the government had decided to hold international bidding for the Thar coal project and set up the Thar Coal Energy Board for the purpose. He said the project would be commissioned in six to seven years.

Secretary for Water and Power Ismael Qureshi said land was being acquired for Kurram Tungi dam after a survey and experts were examining the project’s designs.

He said the pace of work on Gomal Zam dam was satisfactory and Chinese and Turkish consultants had returned because of improvement in the law and order situation.

But, he added, adverse security situation was impeding completion of Sheikh Munda dam.

Senator Saleem Saifullah Khan said interests of landlords were protected because of their dominating representation in parliament, while no-one bothered about the condition of industry.

Some members said running industries was no more economically viable with high mark-up coupled with the energy crisis.

Senator Sardar Jamal Leghari angered the minister with his remarks that government’s policies were forcing people to sell their children. Mr Ashraf pointed out that incidents of suicide were on the rise during the previous regime, but Mr Leghari said the situation had turned worse.

The committee called for tapping the potential of alternative sources of energy like solar, wind and bio-fuels apart from nuclear, hydroelectric and thermal generation. It called for expediting work on the Thar coal project and completing the Kurram Tungi, Gomal Zam and Sheikh Munda dams.

It instructed the ministry and the Water and Power Development Authority to urgently address issues like unusually high line losses, faulty meters and free electricity supply to Wapda employees.

The members said complaints about ‘fast meters’ should be addressed properly and all ornamental lights at Parliament House and other government buildings should remain switched off.

The committee regretted what it called a ‘lack of seriousness’ in addressing the power crisis and its fallout on all sectors of economy.

The members stressed the need for a plan to cope with the impact of the global economic meltdown.

They said a large number of people had been rendered jobless which would affect the quality of life and social harmony.

Senator Hafiz Abdul Malik Qadri presided over the meeting.