Islamabad:
A Senate panel was informed on Friday that provincial governments have not yet paid a total of RS161 billion that they owe to the federal government for accusations of electricity.
On Friday, the permanent senatorial committee of power summoned to discuss key issues, in particular the adjustments of provincial power contributions through the National Finance Commission (NFC) and the privatization of electricity distribution companies (DISCO).
During the meeting, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Mohin Aziz, said that the provinces claim that the federal government had not authorized the contrary.
Heads of the power division said that provincial governments had not paid a total of RS161 billion. Punjab owes the federal government 42 billion rupees; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 10 billion rupees; Sindh, 68 billion rupees and Balutchistan, 42 billion rupees.
The officials said that the amount concerned the electricity provided to the provincial services, while federal contributions can be linked to Hydel feeding adjustments.
The Minister of Power Awais Leghari said that the case had been discussed with the Ministry of Finance recently and that he wrote to all provincial ministers for contributions.
Leghari informed the Committee that, following the reconstruction of record councils, the losses were reduced by 140 billion rupees in March, adding that the government assured the IMF of its commitment to privatize discotheques.
“The role of the government is not to manage electricity distribution companies. The objective is to privatize all discos in the next three years. During the first phase, three discos will be privatized. A financial advisor is already working on the process and has submitted a reasonable diligence report,” he said.
Leghari expressed his confidence that the privatization of the three companies will be completed in the next six months, although the chairman of the committee noted that this was the case by June of next year.
