“We can not promise a summer without power outages until the circular debt and outstanding dues of IPPs are not ended” said PEPCO MD Rasul Khan Mahsud on Tuesday. He was talking at a certificate awarding function for 20 engineers, from power transmission companies, who successfully completed a power system analysis software training programme by USAID.
National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) Managing Director Rasul Khan Mahsud said that political interference was a major obstacle in recovering dues from KESCO, federal and provincial departments and that the current shortfall was around 5,000MW. Addressing the conference, he lauded the role of US government in addressing the training needs of power sector engineers and said that the training programme is an exemplary initiative for the capacity building of power sector engineers. “This training will help the engineers of NTDCL in analysing and proposing solutions to bottlenecks in power distribution system by making it more efficient. More efficiency in energy distribution and its transmission will ultimately result in a reduction of energy crisis,” he added.
The training was organised under US Agency for International Development (USAID) Energy Policy Project (EPP). This project is a part of the US Govt`s commitment to support the government of Pakistan in enhancing power generation and improving energy efficiency, transmission, fuel supply infrastructure and policy reforms in the country.
USAID`s Energy Office Director Melissa Knight congratulated the participants and said the US government was committed to work with the Pakistan government in developing and rehabilitating energy infrastructure projects. The $ 44,000 worth training programme is just one part of the EPP`s wider power sector entities capacity building programme, she added.