4 IPPs serve notices to govt for Rs 16b dues

The government on Monday received notices by four Independent Power Producers (IPPs) giving it 35 days to settle their outstanding dues of Rs 16.2 billion or they would consider invoking the sovereign guarantee. An official source at the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) said the board had received notices from four IPPs against the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC), while they were anticipating that notices from the remaining 23 IPPs could land any time.
He said the 225MW Atlas Power served a notice on the government demanding its outstanding dues of Rs 3.5 billion, 200MW Liberty Power Tech demanding Rs 3.7 billion, 200MW Nishat Chunian Rs 4.5 billion and 200MW Nishat Power demanding Rs 4.5 billion, adding that IPPs had an overdue of Rs 148 billion. The notices have caused alarm in the concerned quarters at the Ministry of Water and Power and Ministry of Finance, as after 35 days these companies might move court invoking the sovereign guarantee, the source said.
The government had recently cleared Rs 120 billion outstanding dues of the power sector but the IPPs were stiff facing a lot of difficulties in their operations due to lack of payment from the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) managing the NTDC. The government had to clear massive outstanding dues worth Rs 57 billion for the hydel power generator, Water and Power Development Authority.
Calling the inefficiency of distribution companies responsible for the notices, the source said they had failed to recover dues from the provincial governments.
The government of Sindh was the biggest defaulter with Rs 36 billion dues. The rate of recovery in Punjab was more than 90 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 60 percent, Sindh 42 percent and the rate of recovery by Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) was 20 percent. Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Ministry of Water and Power said Minister Naveed Qamar had assured the IPPs that their issues would be taken up at the forthcoming energy summit to be resolved on priority.