KARACHI, July 3: During a four-hour meeting held at the Governor’s House on Tuesday, the management of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation came under severe criticism for its poor performance and worsening services.
Chaired by the governor of Sindh, Dr Ishratul Ibad, the meeting was attended by ministers, members of the provincial assembly, city administrators, KESC representatives, industrialists and notables.
‘More than a good job’
The chief executive officer (CEO) of the KESC, S.M. Amjad, failed to give satisfactory answers to the volley of critical questions raised by the participants and had few solutions to present in terms of providing immediate relief from load-shedding and breakdowns. He said that the KESC “might” meet the power demand in 2011, once two new power plants had been installed and that things would get better “gradually.”
While many Karachi localities have faced an electricity crisis in recent weeks, Mr Amjad expressed his satisfaction over the performance of Siemens, the operations and management contractor firm, in restoring power supply after the rains. They have done “more than a good job,” he maintained.
He told the gathering that he had brought about some changes and that Tanzeem Hussain Naqvi had been posted in the business department. KESC officials claimed that Mr Naqvi had been brought over from Wapda and had been the managing director of the KESC on two occasions. They added that Mr Naqvi was the mastermind behind the process of supplementary and average billing to increase revenues, and the process had restarted since he was posted.
Defending the Siemens bid for an old power plant, Mr Amjad said that Siemens was trying to buy a used power plant that had run 7,000 hours. The board of directors had sanctioned 34 million Euros for the plant since that was half the price of new power plant, but the deal failed to materialise due to “certain reasons” that he did not divulge.
He added that a 220MW power plant was being installed at the Korangi Thermal Power Station, which would be able to produce 192MW by March 2008. In addition, he said, the purchase of a 580MW power plant was in the pipeline and a contract could be awarded by September. According to Mr Amjad, the KESC board of directors has allocated a Rs29 billion budget to improve the facility’s generation, transmission and distribution capacity for the current financial year.
Harsh criticism
The provincial minister for planning and development, Shoaib Bokhari, accused the KESC’s new owners and Siemens of doing nothing to improve the system. Armed with statistical and other data, Mr Bokhari called the KESC’s claims of investment “hollow” and said that the organisation’s poor service was provoking people into creating law and order situations on the streets.
The Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on Home Affairs, Waseem Akhtar, emphasised the need for the KESC to focus on snapping live wires that have caused many deaths in the city, while Karachi Nazim Mustafa Kamal pointed out that while the KESC management had prepared a five-year plan, there was no contingency for immediate relief. Recommending that the government review the plan and force early implementation if possible, Mr Kamal said that the KESC must also improve its response system. “When people fail to contact KESC personnel, they contact town nazims,” he complained. “Our efforts to improve the city’s infrastructure come to nil when power failures force people out on the roads.”
Governor Ishratul Ibad also emphasised the need for the KESC to improve its response system and called for the set-up of dedicated phone lines and call centres so that consumers could easily and immediately file information about breakdowns and snapped wires. Pointing out that a power-related complaint centre had to be established at the governor’s house because people could not get in touch with the KESC, he said that it had helped consumers know that their complaints were being heard.
“It is simple to take back the KESC, even though it is an ultimate option,” said Mr Ibad. “But the problems in the KESC have piled up over decades. We have to play our role and find a solution.”
