ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Tuesday expressed concern over exaggerated and estimated billing by some power companies and called for shifting the headquarters of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) to Islamabad from Lahore to improve its performance.

A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Power, presided over by Senator Fida Mohammad Khan, discussed allocations for the power sector in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2020-21, connection of Makran with the national grid, action against Kunda system by Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) and installation of meters and non-utilisation of funds under special development goals by Tribal Electric Supply Company (Tesco) in last five years.

Regarding the allocation for power sector in the PSDP 2020-21, the committee was told that the total allocation for power sector was Rs155.7 billion, which included Rs97bn foreign funding, Rs36bn loans from local banks and the remaining Rs23bn from the federal budget. There are a total of 94 total projects in this year’s development programme, 80 ongoing and 14 new projects. A major chunk of funds of the power sector allocation -- Rs93bn -- is being spent on NTDC projects, followed by Rs40bn on generation companies and remaining on distribution companies.

Proposes shifting NTDC headquarters to Islamabad from Lahore

Senator Mirza Mohammad Afridi said that a renowned Japanese company wanted to invest in the power sector for which National Electric Power Regulatory Authority had already issued a licence but due to the lack of interest of power division no progress could be achieved. He said the political leadership, the private sector and parliamentarians had been working hard to bring foreign investment to the country but due to lack of interest by the institutions the investors were running out of the country.

The committee was informed by the secretary of power division that the main problem of Makran was its lack of connectivity with the national grid and the government was working on ensuring connectivity of Makran with national grid. Besides, he said, a 300MW coal-fired power plant was being installed at Gwadar, under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor portfolio, to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply in the coastal region.

Chairman of the committee asked about the details of a proposed 50MW solar power plant in the region and the power secretary promised to come up with the details in the next meeting.

On the issue of Pesco, the chairman of the committee said that parliamentarians and common people were equally sick of the poor performance of Pesco staff. Senator Bahramand Tangi said that the people were ready to remove Kundas and install meters but Pesco authorities were the real problem as they did not want to clear Kundas which were their source of income.

He said that Pesco was sending estimated bills of up to Rs500,000 per house without meter and added that Kunda culture could not be eliminated without installation of meters.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2021