January 13, 2007	Saturday	Zilhaj 22, 1427

LAHORE, Jan 12: The Central Board of Revenue has launched, what it called verification audit of the power sector in the country, sources in the CBR said here on Friday.

The audit exercise will cover Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), its allied wings and distribution companies (DisCos). To be completed in six months, the audit will scrutinise the exact cost of power generation, distribution losses and profits that different wings of the sector were making.

The Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) would carry out the audit on behalf of the CBR. An official of the LTU said that though the basic purpose of the audit is to increase tax collection by measuring profits of the sector, but it would help clarify many grey areas in the sector, like distribution losses.

He said that the board has already performed such audits for other sectors, like cement, with very positive results. The power sector audit would help clear exact financial positions of generation and distribution companies, he said.