A parliamentary panel on Thursday unanimously recommended the budgetary proposals of the Power Division and its attached departments amounting to Rs. 172.17 billion for the financial year 2022-23 as approved.
The 17th meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Energy (Power Division) was held under the Chairmanship of Chaudhry Salik Hussain, MNA.
The Committee was given a briefing on its working, project generation demand-supply gap, transmission and distribution losses, circular debt, tariff reforms, theft control, removal of transmission constraints, fund subsidies, technological interventions, policy and plan.
The Committee vowed to have a comprehensive briefing on the IPPs and circular debt in the upcoming meeting and also on tariff rationalization.
The Committee unanimously passed “The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019”, with the amendment, “462-(O). Cognizance. – The offences punishable under the Chapter shall be cognizable but the police shall not take cognizance of an offence under this Chapter except where information of such offence is provided to the police in writing by a duly authorized officer (not below Grade 18) of the Government or by an officer of an equivalent grade of a Distribution Licensee, as the case may be”.
The Committee was told that the Cabinet in its meeting held recently had given a one-time exception and allowed connections to the consumers of Islamabad Capital Territory. The Committee asked National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to issue guidelines in this regard within 15 days from today.
MNA’s Sher Akbar Khan, Malik Anwar Taj, Saif Ur Rehman, Lal Chand, Engr. Sabir Hussain Kaim Khani, Saira Bano, Azhar Qayyum Nahra, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Sardar Muhammad Irfan Dogar, Muhammad Afzal Khokhar, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah and Secretary, Ministry of Power Division along with senior officers of the relevant departments attended the meeting.
According to an official document, the Power Division’s demand of Rs. 172.17 billion for the next fiscal year would cater to the financing of 101 PSDP projects. The projects of Rs. 89.52 billion will be financed from foreign assistance sought for the next 12 months. The local component of the projects would be Rs. 40.78 billion, and projects to be executed would need Rs. 41.87 billion in 2022-23.
According to the document, out of 101 projects, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) already approved 33 projects, while the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) approved 22 projects, the Divisional Development Working Party (DDWP) 28 projects, and 18 projects on approval stage.
According to the document, 87 projects are ongoing, and 14 projects are new out of 101 projects, one project lies under GENCOs, one project under the Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB), 59 projects under the National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC), and 40 under DISCOs.
