March 14, 2008	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1429

KARACHI, March 13: Although the Karachi city government has no role in the affairs of the Karachi Electric Supply Company, City Nazim Mustafa Kamal offered all-out cooperation to the KESC on Thursday to bring about a much-needed improvement in the worsening power supply situation.

“We have no say in KESC matters, but in view of the problems of the people of Karachi, I offer my unconditional cooperation to the KESC and it is my demand that the federal government take effective measures for resolving the power crisis,” Mr Kamal told a press conference at his office.

He said he wanted to cooperate with the KESC and for this purpose he had allowed the KESC to dig up the recently-built roads in the city to lay underground cables. “They had dug up the whole Saddar area and now they are going to excavate Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulshan-i-Iqbal, but I have not only allowed them digging but will not charge even a single penny in the head of road cutting charges,” he said, adding that the KESC had failed to lay its system on time when the city government was building roads despite repeated requests to complete the process.

He told newsmen that he had spoken to the Water and Power Development Authority chairman and requested him to play his role in resolving the current power crisis. He said the Wapda chairman informed him that the KESC had to clear Rs30 billion dues it owed to Wapda, but even if the KESC paid Rs3 billion, Wapda would maintain its supply of 200 megawatts. “I requested him to increase the power supply to Karachi. The Wapda chairman agreed to double the existing supply to 400MW if the KESC paid Rs3 billion [as a first instalment],” he added.

The nazim said the Wapda chairman had also informed him that Wapda would have no objection if the KESC directly purchased electricity from Hubco.

“Tomorrow the city government will pay Rs300 million to the KESC and I feel that the power utility should pay at least Rs3 billion to Wapda at the earliest,” he said.

Mr Kamal said that due to the power crisis, the survival of Karachi’s industry had become a serious issue.

Answering a question, he said the government’s decision to privatize the power utility was a right step as the government could not inject funds into the KESC. “However, the buyer did not fulfil its promise of investment, resulting in the current crisis,” he added.

He said the KWSB had installed generators at the pumping stations and treatment plants so that the power breakdowns did not hamper its work relating to water supply and sewerage. He also appealed to the citizens to conserve electricity to help improve the situation.

Mr Kamal maintained that the total demand of the KWSB was 32MW and the city government was in the process of installing a 50MW power plant.