PESHAWAR, May 6: Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) has appointed a financial advisor to prepare it for privatization, said its chief executive Brig Tahir Saeed Malik while speaking at Peshawar Press Club in its guest hour programme on Monday.

Pesco’s proposed privatization is in line with the Water & Power Development Authority’s plan to privatize power distribution companies.

Pesco is one of the two power distribution companies which have so far been selected for privatization. The other company is Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco).

Replying to a question, Pesco’s chief executive said although the company was in loss, efforts were afoot to make it a profitable entity.

The company suffered Rs6bn losses during the last financial year only on two counts: power pilferage and technical losses.

Operational losses are in addition to this loss.

“Though line losses have been brought down considerably during the last four years, the situation remains far from satisfactory. Hence much more is needed to be done,” said Pesco CEO.

Pesco has not yet attracted prospective buyers since its placement with the privatisation commission for privatization.

Brig Tahir Saeed Malik said that the company saved Rs1bn during the first seven months of the current financial year by bringing down losses by one per cent.

“During the last four years, since army took over Wapda, Pesco’s losses have been decreasing at an annual rate between one per cent and 1.5 per cent,” said the Pesco chief.

Meanwhile, Mr Jamshed Savul has been appointed as chairman of the board of directors of Peshawar Electric Supply Company.

A notification on the appointment of Mr Savul, a prominent industrialist of NWFP, as chairman of the board of directors of Pesco was issued by Pepco, Lahore, couple of days back, says a press release issued here on Monday.

Earlier, Mr Savul was member of Pesco’s board of directors constituted sometime in 1999 after the Area Electricity Board, Peshawar, was converted into Pesco.