ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: The report on power tariff reduction is likely to be delayed by about 15 days after inclusion of two more parliamentarians in the 20-member task force, power ministry sources said.
The government has included Kanwar Khalid Younis and Prof. Khalid Wahab, two Muttahida Qaumi Movement MNAs from Karachi and Hyderabad, respectively, in the task force just before the finalisation of its report.
The two MNAs have sought time to go through the voluminous report so that they could also give their input and suggestions, the sources said.
They had both recently agitated in parliament against the government’s policy under which consumers of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation were paying higher electricity rates than the countrywide Wapda consumers.
Sources said the task force, led by former secretary water and power Mirza Hamid Hassan, had almost finalised its report which included input from the new Wapda chairman before the inclusion of the two MNAs.
The task force was constituted by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in May 2003 and was given a two-month deadline to submit its report to the federal cabinet. The task force, whose deadline was initially extended till Nov 30, was given 10 more days because of Eid holidays besides accommodating the new Wapda chairman’s input.
The draft report had suggested restructuring of Wapda loans amounting to Rs100 billion to reduce power rates between 40 paisa to one rupee per unit from the existing average tariff of Rs4.09 per unit besides suggestions for line loss reduction, fuel price restructuring, system improvement and other measures for long- term tariff reduction.
