ISLAMABAD, Nov 7: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Friday ordered “special audit” of the accounts of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) and the Water and Power Development Authority over Rs2.35 billion irregularities found by the Auditor-General of Pakistan in Wapda’s accounts for 2005-6.

The committee, presided over by the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, expressed reservations over frequent irregularities committed in Wapda and observed that the accounts of Pepco and all power distribution companies also needed to be audited by special auditors. It observed that there was a general impression that irregularities in utility companies were too frequent to be determined by the usual auditing.

The auditor-general made 13 objections to Wapda accounts.

The special audit has to be completed in four months to dig out possible irregularities feared to have been committed during the rule of former president Pervez Musharraf.

A sub-committee, led by PML-Q’s Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, was formed to look into the losses of over Rs174.5 million caused by a delay in implementation of remodelling project of Jamrao and Nara canals in Hyderabad.

Another sub-committee, headed by PPP’s Yasmin Rehman and comprising MNAs Rana Mehmoodul Hassan and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, was constituted to probe charges of short supply of 6,437 concrete poles, causing a loss of Rs39.325 million to the Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company (Hesco).

“We need to fix responsibility of these irregularities on the officials who committed them, no matter if they are serving, retired or even dead,” Chaudhry Nisar observed.

He said Wapda was suffering from problems which were not only related to technical development and financial matters, but also to the very mindset of its officials. “Wapda has evolved as a state within a state at the expense of the poor. Whenever there is any investigation, the axe falls on low-cadre employees while the big fish escape the net. We need to grab these big fish this time.”He directed the Wapda chairman to look into alleged misuse of funds and authority in his organisation and submit a report to the PAC within a month.

Wapda Chairman Shakeel Durrani informed the committee that the government was bearing a loss of $5 million a day because of delay in the construction of the Diamer-Basha Dam. “We can’t afford further delay in construction of the dam.”

He said a separate mechanism was needed for awarding contracts of projects related to water and power generation. He said that the present procedure of giving contracts to the lowest bidder needed to be improved.

The committee directed the Wapda chairman to reactivate the legal wing of the utility and keep liaison with the attorney-general and law officers of the provinces.

The PAC chairman directed Wapda to ensure the lowest tariff for street lights in all provinces to help reduce the crime rate.

He took exception to reports that the Saadi Cement had been given undue favours by the then Wapda chairman in 2003 by not following the prescribed procedure to reduce electricity load, causing a loss of Rs12.6 million to the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco). He directed Mr Durrani to look into the matter and submit a report to the committee.