Another unflattering assessment
The Institute of Policy Reforms (IPR) – headed by former Planning Minister Dr Hafiz Pasha, with former Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar as chairman – is not too pleased with the present government’s performance in the power sector. The think-tank has challenged official claims about improving the sector, arguing instead that that performance of the previous PPP government was better. While few Pakistanis will treat the claim as anything short of fantastic, it does present a moment of reflection for the government. Dr Pasha, known for intrinsic and quantitative analysis, uses stats and data points to back his case. And power was one of N-league’s core campaign promises. If its performance turns out worse than the PPP – which, for many, set the standard for misgovernance – then the next general election will become that much more difficult.
Yet Dr Pasha has raised some valid points. Power generation, it says, has declined in the first nine months of 2014-15, which is in stark contrast to official claims of ‘initiatives and achievements’ in increasing generation capacity. The tariff rationalisation surcharge is also important – which the government has incorporated in face of IMF pressure to reduce power subsidy by half – because it has increased consumer price of electricity by as much as 20 to 33 percent. How that must affect industry competitiveness is not rocket science.
It is also worrying that Pakistan’s industrial tariff is reportedly 23 percent higher than India and much higher than Bangladesh. As regards privatisation of discos, preferring efficient units – Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad – over loss making ones is, perhaps, not the ideal way forward. The government must take these trends seriously, even if some analyses tend to over complicate the problem. The N-league does not seem to realise, though, that it faces such bad reports every now and then primarily because of its own inability to honour its election promises. Even its strongest supporters have difficulty in defending the government’s power policies. The sooner an element of rationality is introduced, the sooner people can be rid of load shedding and ridiculously high bills.
