ISLAMABAD: Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif has accused the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) of conspiring to sabotage friendly relations between Pakistan and China, as well as causing billions of dollars in economic losses to the country.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, the minister said PTI and PAT had hatched a conspiracy to derail a plan to generate cheaper electricity in collaboration with the Chinese. He alleged that powerful oil lobby was behind the conspiracy to block agreements worth $14 billion for 10,000 megawatts of cheap electricity.

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“This is the worst example of terrorism [aimed at] derailing ties between China and Pakistan,” Mr Asif said. The two countries were expected to sign agreements on proposed power plants next month, he said. He also denied allegations levelled by some PTI leaders that the companies involved in the project were ‘fake’ and set up as fronts by the ruling party.

He said the names of the Chinese firms would be made public after contracts were awarded. He said that Imran Khan had no capacity to understand economic affairs of the country and was being misled by vested interests and, consequently, was misleading the people.

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He dispelled the impression, created by the PTI, that the government had not seriously held dialogue with the protesters. “We held talks in good faith following their demands,” he said.

Khawaja Asif held the PTI chief responsible for the postponement of the Chinese president’s visit and power shortages in the country. He said as long as the power shortage continued, the people of Pakistan would suffer hardships because of Mr Khan.

He said that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) had turned down PTI’s plea regarding an increase in upfront tariff for coal-based power plants. “PTI had presented inaccurate figures in a petition and, therefore, the regulator rejected their plea,” he said.

He said the rate of return for coal-based projects was enhanced from 17 to 20 per cent specifically for Engro, which was the project of its kind. This was done only to attract parties to invest in the Thar coal project. Subsequent projects will be offered upfront tariffs under Nepra procedure. He added that Nepra was an independent regulator which decided tariff as per rules and regulations.

It is interesting to note that Nepra has not yet officially rejected PTI’s stance. In fact, the regulator has sought comments from all stakeholders by October after hearing the petition of former managing director of Engro Corporation and PTI MNA Asad Umar.

“Chinese companies would be responsible for loans and the government of Pakistan would have nothing to do with it”, Khwaja Asif said.

He said the cost of oil based power generation currently stood at Rs18 per unit and the government was giving a 100 per cent subsidy on it.

He said that power consumers had complaints about power bills from July due to high consumption of power in summer and after that the government did not receive complaints from any side about electricity bills. He said that the government had not raised power tariffs for the past year.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2014