A Hubco official on Wednesday said circular debt continued to affect operations of its plants and the Narowal plant which had not been operating at full capacity since the first week of January is now not producing at all since March 26, 2013 on account of fuel shortage. If this 225 MW plant runs at its full capacity, it can reduce electricity in Punjab for over 45 minutes a day.
The biggest hurdle in production of electricity from this state of the art plant is the overdue amount for Narowal plant which has exceeded Rs 19 billion and the amount overdue to the oil supplier for the fuel is Rs 3.2 billion. “How was a private sector oil supplier continuing to provide oil without getting billions of rupees in dues,” questioned the official.
IPPs have requested the Ministries of Water & Power and Petroleum and Natural Resources to help the plants contribute their due role by producing maximum possible electricity while the country is going through the worst load shedding, ranging between 12 to 20 hours per day in different cities of Punjab. Caretaker government must take notice of the issues being faced by the independent power producers (IPPs) of the country, due to the unending circular debt quagmire, he added. The Company official also demanded an equitable treatment to all IPPs with regards to their pending dues. At the moment, some IPPs who went to Supreme Court last year against non-payment by the government, have been receiving partial payments on orders of the apex court and are able to generate fully while other plants are either running at their minimum capacity or are dysfunctional owing to huge unpaid dues by the government. Liabilities of the Narowal plant are thrice those of other similar IPPs.
Sources hoped that ministers for petroleum and water & power would take notice of this discriminatory practice and would take immediate measures to solve this problem to bring the efficient power plant back on track. The official said reduced fuel supply has also affected the full operation of Hub plant in Balochistan during the 3rd quarter of FY 2013. The fuel supplier has reduced supply below requirements for daily operations and the fuel stock is alarming low, he added.
