Federal Water and Power Secretary Rao Sikandar has accepted his inability to address power outages in the country, especially in Balochistan, and assured that the situation would improve soon.
While briefing the Senate sub-committee on Finance and Revenue, the secretary acknowledged that Balochistan had not been given its due share in power and of the 1,400 megawatts of its quota, only 450 megawatts were being provided to the province, leading to an adverse situation.
He said the Ministry of Water and Power held a meeting with the Ministry of Finance and Petroleum and decided to ensure smooth supply of 25,000 metric tonnes of furnace oil per day to power generation plants.
He said 100 megawatt had already been added to the system and by the end of this month, another 1,300 megawatt would be added to the national grid soon.
Sikandar said the circular debt had increased to Rs 414 billion and prevailing culture of over billing by one department to the other was the key reason behind it.
He added that issues related to outstanding amount of GST with the FBR had been resolved and soon this amount would be released to the Ministry of Water and Power. He said various cases worth Rs 100 billion had been handed over to NAB.
The secretary apprised the legislative body that Rs 100 billion were outstanding with the private sector, Rs 150 billion with government departments and 89 billion were owed by other departments.
The sub-committee strongly annoyed the unnecessary delay in submission of report regarding development work on 29 projects in Balochistan by WAPDA officials.
Senator Fateh Muhammad Hasni warned that if this mechanism was repeated and WAPDA officials did not brief the committee in next meeting, the committee would take strict action.
“Officials are using different delaying tactics for the last six months, which is very unfortunate and would not be tolerated further,” Hasni said.
The committee also directed officials of the Finance Department to allocate minimum amount in PSDP for unfunded projects of the Nation Highway Authority (NHA) in order to keep them alive.
