ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Dr. Miftah Ismail has convened a meeting of the committee on Tuesday (today) tasked to prepare recommendation for diversion of gas from Captive Power Plants (CPPs) to national system.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had recently constituted this committee with the objective of formulating options for diverting gas from non-cogeneration CPPs to national system.

The committee headed by Minister for Finance, comprises of Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan (member), Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik (member), Secretary Finance (member), Secretary Power Division (member), Secretary Industries and Production (member) and Secretary Petroleum (member/ secretary).

The terms and reference of the committee are as follows ;(i) to hold deliberations with businesses/ corporates generating electricity through non-cogeneration CPPs to explore and work out options for diverting gas to the national system;(ii) any other issue(s) which require consideration of the Committee;(iii) the committee may co-opt any other member(s) as per requirement; and (iv) Chairman of the Committee shall brief the Prime Minister, at least fortnightly, about the overall progress.

In 2020, National Energy and Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA) had offered 50 percent energy audit free of cost to CPPs on first-come first-served basis. As per the directions of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE), Petroleum Division conveyed on July 30, 2020 that NEECA had been assigned the task of conducting energy audits of gas-based captive power units. However, the task has not been fulfilled due to influence of those sectors which are using cheap gas to generate electricity.—MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN