Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Wednesday observed that the rental power projects (RPPs) were a scam after the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) admitted in the Supreme Court that the RPPs contracts were not awarded transparently and it was up to the court to cancel the projects or give guidelines to make them transparent.
Appearing on notice, NEPRA’S lawyer Najmul Hassan Kazmi contended before the court that orders of his client were not implemented in the matter of RPPs by the Water and Power Ministry. He was arguing before a two-member Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, which was hearing a suo motu case along with two identical petitions filed by Housing Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat and PML-N MNA Khawaja Muhammad Asif against alleged corruption in the award of RPP contracts.
Kazmi said according to NEPRA record, there was not a single power project which had commissioning date (CoD). The chief justice noted that now it had been proven that the projects were not transparent, adding that criminal cases should be registered against those responsible. He said it was unfortunate that there existed a status quo in the country and no one was ready to present himself for accountability. He said it seemed as if everyone had come here from abroad just to pass some time. “Some people have been keeping their briefcases with them and as soon as their matter will come to an end, they will leave the country,” Justice Khilji Arif Hussain said. NEPRA’S counsel told the court that Walters Power International, a rental power company partnered by Iqbal Z Ahmed, used the same machinery for Guddu and Naudero-II rental power plants, however, took separate mobilisation advances of Rs 1.25 billion each for the projects.
To a court query, he said Rs 1.25 billion were paid in advance to Walters for the Guddu rental power project, whereas the machinery brought for Guddu rental power project was shifted to Naudero-II power project and a separate mobilisation advance was also taken for this project. He said less tariff was determined on the machinery installed at Guddu, however, when the same machinery was shifted to Naudero, the tariff was increased.
The chief justice noted that all this was being done deliberately. NEPRA’S counsel submitted that all this indicated that the whole process revolving the RPPs was non-transparent. He said the amount was taken on interest and paid to the rental power companies, however, NEPRA managed to get the interest waived-off. He said the projects which had to be completed in 180 days, still did not exist on ground despite the passage of over two years.
To a court query, the lawyer said NEPRA had objected to all this, however, no heed was paid to its objections. He said except Gulf Power Company, no other company completed its work according to the agreement. He said when NEPRA feared the RPPs were going to fail, it asked the ministry to stop work on these projects. He said even in June and July, not more than 100MW of electricity could be generated from these projects.
He said before award of RPPs, NEPRA had made it clear that it had no concern with the production capacity of any RPP and it would pay for each unit which it would take, as it was a regulatory body. The chief justice noted that this was a big fraud, which warranted criminal action.Senior counsel Anwar Kamal, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae (friend of the court), submitted that during the award of RPP contracts, not only Energy Ordinance 2002, but also the Companies and NAB ordinances were violated. He said according to NAB Ordinance, the advertisement of every project having cost over Rs 50 million was must on the website of PPRA, which was not done in RPPs process. The court later adjourned the hearing until today (Thursday).
