The Senate Standing Committee on Power emphasized revamping the power sector and rehabilitating the de-licensed public sector power generation plants in addition to bringing improvements in all GENCOs.
The Senate panel chaired by Senator Saifullah Abro stressed the need for removing all the obstacles in using the alternative energy sources to the fullest in the country, asserting that this was the way to curtail the energy crisis.
The panel considered recommendations about operating GENCO-I on LNG instead of furnace oil. It also discussed the ELR [expediture limitation report] expenses, made by HESCO and SEPCO under development, maintenance, and procurement of material heads from June 2008 up till now.
The committee was provided details of the rehabilitation plans of Thermal Power Station Jamshoro, Kotri, and Guddu. An estimation of costs for the project was shared with the committee.
The chair showed grave concerns over the delays. He said that it was imperative to revamp the power sector.
Regarding the use of alternative energy sources in the country and the plan to assimilate generated power into the system, the committee was informed that alternative energy sources entailed 4-5 percent of the total generated power which had not yet been introduced into the system. Â
Discussing the menace of circular debt, the committee inquired about payments that were to be made by K-Electric, since it owed an amount of Rs. 53 billion to the Government of Pakistan. The panel members said the Power Division must ensure that these payments were made at the earliest. K-Electric, in previous meetings, had admitted that in 2005 it had no liability on the government and hence it would pay back the said amount. It was unanimously decided by the committee that action must be taken within two weeks by the Power Division.
Taking up the case of illegal appointments, the committee discussed the case of Chief Financial Officer HESCO, who within a period of five months, spent an amount of Rs. 24 million as expenditure in the board meetings of HESCO. The committee stressed the need for strict measures and directed that the case must be forwarded to FIA for further investigation.
On the ELR expenditures of HESCO and SEPCO, the committee expressed dissatisfaction with the submitted data and directed that all relevant data must be submitted within a week.
Senior officers of the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority along with all other concerned attended the meeting.
