A highly empowered ministerial committee, tasked to find solutions on war footing for ending the energy crisis, could not manage to take any decisions on Friday, ending inconclusively but not without conducting the hilarious exercise of forming another subcommittee to come up with recommendations for resolving the problem.
The meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy was chaired by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and attended by Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for Political Affairs Maula Baksh Chandio, Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Minister for Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, Minister for Privatisation Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Minister for Production Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema, Minister for Kashmir Affairs Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, and Minister of State for Production Khawaja Sheraz, in addition to the high officials of the ministries.
An official source said the committee was a nonstarter as the chair had no power to decide any issue and time had been wasted in inter-ministerial wrangling over various issues. The matter was finally referred to the prime minister for decision, which was referred back to the committee, the source said, adding that the energy committee had not moved an inch over the last one year as it has no implementation powers. It could be gauged from the fact that the unanimous cabinet decision to appoint new chief executives for distribution companies (DISCOs) taken in October last year could not be implemented.
Even though the committee had forwarded the names of the CEOs for five DISCOs, the move was sabotaged at the Prime Minister’s House by granting extension to incumbent chief executives. Nearly all the incumbent CEOs are either on extension or acing charge and have become a hostage in the hands of their boards, the ministry concerned and the PM’s House. The minister for water and power had suspended NTDC Managing Director Rasul Khan Masud but he still remains in office as the prime minister has not approved the suspension order.
He said that the ministry of water and power had presented four demands and provided Rs 300 billion during the next fiscal year to: maintain uninterrupted power supply; implement at source deduction of the outstanding dues of the federal and provincial government departments which have increased to over Rs 215 billion; allocate gas to the power sector for affordable electricity tariff; and stop all interference in the matters of DISCOs by immediately appointing professional management. However, no decision was taken due to difference of opinion among the ministries. The source said the ministers looked totally confused and decided to set up a committee under former energy ministers to give recommendations for managing the load shedding. “They are still hoping that what incumbent energy ministers could not do, would be sorted out by other ministers,” the source added.
An official statement issued after the meeting said that the committee chairman constituted a subcommittee of ministers of information, interior and production, who would meet during the two gazetted weekly holidays to submit a report on electricity load management with respect to DISCOs. The committee will also look into the capacity utilisation enhancement, availability of gas, resources and financial requirements for the mitigation of the problem in this regard, the statement said.
It said the committee was informed that 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity could be added in the national grid provided that gas or furnace oil was provided. The cabinet committee deliberated at length about the overall load management in the country, and asked the Ministry of Water and Power to ensure that DISCOs be made to follow the load shedding formulas, and non-compliant DISCOs should be held responsible and brought to task. Taking exception of serious management problems in dealing with the load management by DISCOs, the committee chairman said that the committee would then decide how to revive the public’s confidence by resorting to stern actions against non-compliant companies.
The committee, which is holding consecutive meetings, would meet again on June 18 to deliberate upon the responses from all the line ministries, divisions and authorities, to set the target of 14,000 MW. Over the weekend, the ministries concerned would jointly prepare a data availability contingency plan to enhance power generation in the country.
The committee also directed that there should be no discrimination in load shedding in urban and rural areas, and between cities to cities. It asked the ministries concerned and their secretaries to bring the load shedding management plan in the light of the projected target of 14000 MW, in the next meeting.
