October 1, 2005	Saturday	Sha'aban 26, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 30: The government is formulating policies to protect regulators from different influences and provide a level-playing field to all players of the power market.

This was stated by Mukhtar Ahmad, adviser to prime minister on energy, while speaking at the concluding session of “South Asia Regional Workshop” on “Rate Making and Tariff Setting” here at National Institute for Banking and Finance (NIBAF), Islamabad.

Mukhtar Ahmad in his speech emphasized that it was a right time to give a level-playing field to all players of the power market, adding that for this purpose the government was formulating the policies and guidelines to protect regulators from various influences.

He said there was a need to clearly define the roles of all the concerned in the power sector of Pakistan. To highlight this cause, he said there must be such type of workshops and learning platforms in order to meet the grievances of the regulators.

Robyn McGuckin, Regional Coordinator and Programme Manager, SARI/Energy USAID, India said the regional workshop would help in developing contacts with other institutions and resource persons in the South Asia region for future training, regulatory collaboration and research work.

She appreciated the forum where the professionals of the region assembled and shared their experiences regarding tariff design.

National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Chairman Lt-Gen (retired) Saeeduz Zafar said the authority would continue energy partnership programme especially with all the institutions in the region. He said this workshop was designed to study international best practices in tariff and to share views on the development of competitive markets in South Asia region.

He said another objective of the workshop was the evolution of regional utility regulation vision.

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