KPK govt held responsible for delay
MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN
ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali said on Wednesday that funding for 4300MW Dasu hydropower project is available but Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) is not extending help towards land procurement.
He was briefing National Assembly's Standing Committee on Water and Power which met with Arshad Khan Lodhi in the chair.
Abid Sher Ali maintained that the federal government has already paid billions of rupees to the KPK government for land procurement but no progress has been made. KPK government does not want the people to be provided relief through steps taken by the federal government, he alleged.
Replying to a question regarding shortage of transformers, he said that one of the private sector transformer suppliers is in court due to which Discos are facing shortage. He said federal government has directed all Discos to resolve the overloading of transformers by March 31, 2015 after which action will be taken against concerned Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
"We have tightened screws on 88 meter readers, meter inspectors, SDOs, XENs. A legal action is being taken against them," he added. Minister of State for Water and Power acknowledged that inflated bills are being sent to consumers and meter readers are involved in this matter.
Member National Assembly Syed Kazim Shah complained that 18 hour load shedding is being done in areas that fall under the jurisdiction of Sukkar Electric Supply Company.
Minister of State replied that those areas where losses and theft are high are facing 22 hours load shedding instead of 18 hours.
The committee expressed concern that Ministry and its attached departments were unable to finalise their budgetary proposals for the financial year 2015-16. The committee directed that the Ministry should finalise its budgetary proposals at the earliest so that committee could consider them accordingly.
The committee appreciated the performance of Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) despite the fact that its CEO Yousaf Awan is said to be occupying the office without any order from the federal government.
The committee directed Iesco management to share its experience with other Discos as well as to improve their performance.
The committee expressed concern over unnecessary delay in acquiring land for Chakdara grid station and Dasu dam by the KPK government despite the fact that the World Bank had already released funds for both projects. The committee decided to take up the issue with KPK government in order to avoid further losses to the national exchequer.
Meeting was attended by Malik Ihtebar Khan, Rana Afzaal, Rana Ishaq Khan, Pir Aslam Bodla, Rao Muhammad Ajmal, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Nawab Yousaf Talpur, Syed Waseen Hussain, Maulana Gohar Shah, Syed Kazim Ali Shah, Syed Ghazi Gulab Jamal and Sahibzada Yaqub.
