October 18, 2003	Saturday	Sha'aban 21, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: The military authorities have proposed to the government that a serving army general should be appointed as the Water and Power Development Authority chairman in view of a number of big upcoming irrigation and water storage projects.

The post was due to fall vacant on the retirement of Zulfiqar Ali Khan by the middle of next month, sources said.

He was striving to get an extension on the basis of water projects he had brought forward but the Wapda Act barred a chairman from serving beyond his five-year tenure, they said.

Finance and water and power ministries officials said they would oppose an extension to the incumbent or the appointment of an armyman in Wapda in view of the gigantic work faced by the authority on the proposed privatization of its 12 distribution and generation companies.

Sources in the prime minister’s secretariat told Dawn that the general headquarters (GHQ) had proposed the names of Lt-Gen Zubair and Maj-Gen Farrukh Javed for the post.

Both of them have an engineering background. Lt-Gen Mohammed Zubair served in the Frontier Works Organization before recently being posted as the army chief engineer. Maj-Gen Javed is the National Highway Authority chairman.

Meanwhile, the water and power ministry has provided to the prime minister’s secretariat a seniority list of Wapda officials for the selection of the authority’s member, power.

Sources said the ministry and the Wapda chairman had developed differences over the appointment of the member and the prime minister had been given the list for a decision.

Wapda chairman had refused to honour the appointment of the member made by the government on the ministry’s proposal. The government had rejected a Wapda summary for the appointment of an official to the post.