Islamabad:
The Permanent Energy Committee of the Senate, threatened the Energy Division on Wednesday for its inability to provide clear responses on the cost and efficiency of IPP, the increase without control of circular debt and the persistent elimination of electricity load during the maximum summer months.
The committee, chaired by Senator Mohsin Aziz, expressed a strong dissatisfaction with the lack of transparency of the power division.
“We ask for a global comparative analysis of the IPP electrical plants for more than a year, but no data has been shared,” said Senator Aziz. He regretted the continuous reluctance of the division to share heat efficiency figures, calling unfair IPP arrangements from the beginning.
Senator Shibli Faraz criticized Power’s division to dodge questions.
“In the last four years, we have not received clear answers. These projects were the result of collusion. The costs were artificially inflated to increase profits, not due to a genuine investment. This has paralyzed our economy and charged generations,” he said. He condemned the continuous use of bank loans to resolve the circular debt, saying: “We celebrate loans as if it were a success story.”
Faraz also emphasized that the power division must stop hiding behind the work forces and face parliamentary scrutiny.
Responding to criticism, the Secretary of Power Rashid Mahmood Langial explained that the payments of the circular debt were now linked to the existing debt service surcharges and assured the committee that a new financial burden would not be transmitted to consumers. He defended the government’s decision to reduce electricity subsidies, saying that he helped control the circular debt.
Langrial admitted that certain IPP had been awarded excessive performance rates and said: “We have already recovered an additional excess of RS30 billion IPP obtained through fuel and margins of O & M.”
