ISLAMABAD, Nov 14: The federal government appointed on Friday Water and Power Secretary Saeedullah Jan chairman of the Wapda and Power Development Authority. Similarly, Additional Secretary of the Water and Power Ministry Riaz Ahmed Khan has been appointed Karachi Electric Supply Corporation chairman.
According to official notifications, Saeedullah Jan has been directed to perform the duties of Wapda chairman and chief executive of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) in addition to his own duties till further orders. Similarly, Riaz Ahmad Khan has been posted as chairman of the KESC board of directors on additional charge basis till further orders.
These posts had fallen vacant on the retirement of Lt-Gen Zulfiqar Ali Khan on November 12 as Wapda chairman. He remained chairman of Wapda, KESC and chief executive of Pepco for five years.
The decisions were taken after the Prime Minister Secretariat could not decide about permanent postings on these posts owing to hectic lobbying by the federal ministers and military authorities, sources said.
The sources said the prime minister was informed by the ministers for finance and privatization that the World Bank was opposed to the appointment of a uniformed officer as Wapda chairman in view of proposed privatization of 12 corporate entities of Wapda and KESC.
Three candidates, Tariq Hameed, Lt-Gen Mohammad Zubair and Maj-Gen Furrukh Javed are being considered for the post of Wapda chief. Former secretary-general finance Moeen Afzal, former federal secretary Akram Sheikh and petroleum secretary Abdullah Yousaf are also in the run.
Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, Privatization Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Water and Power Minister Aftab Sherpao are pushing the name of Tariq Hameed. The water and power ministry has also submitted a summary to the prime minister for the appointment of Tariq Hameed as Wapda chief.
Tariq Hameed, with a World Bank background, has served as Punjab finance minister before the inception of the Jamali government last year. He was picked by Shaukat Aziz to head the Corporate and Industrial Restructuring Corporation (CIRC) soon after the formation of military cabinet in 1999, and later got him promoted as provincial finance minister.
In his letter of intent (LoI) to the IMF, the finance minister has attributed most of the ills of the economy to the performance of Wapda and linked success of economic policies to Wapda’s turnaround. He has never been comfortable with Gen Zulfiqar during the last four years.
Aftab Sherpao, too, had strained working relationship with Gen Zulfiqar and wanted a civilian to head the country’s largest public sector organization.
The military authorities, on the other hand, have suggested the appointment of a serving general as Wapda chairman in view of a number of upcoming mega irrigation and water storage projects.
The GHQ has proposed the names of Lt-Gen Mohammad Zubair and Maj-Gen Farrukh Javed for the job.
Both Lt-Gen Zubair and Maj-Gen Farrukh have an engineering background. Gen Zubair served at the Frontier Works Organization before being posted as chief engineer Pakistan Army.
Maj-Gen Farrukh Javed is currently serving as the National Highway Authority (NHA) chairman and recently won praise for completing a couple of big road projects ahead of their deadline.
