Dr Fiaz Ahmad Chaudhry, the new managing director of the National Transmission and Despatch Company, does not believe in mincing words. He doesn’t have to as long as he does his job efficiently and produces results.

“The NTDC doesn’t have the capacity to handle such bulk work,” he says of the multi-billion-rupee projects his company is implementing for upgrading the inadequate existing power transmission network, and constructing new extra high voltage transmission lines and grid stations, for transporting electricity from new generation facilities to distribution companies.

“More than 10,000 megawatt of new hydro, thermal, solar and wind power is expected to be inducted into the system in the next couple of years. For this we need to build a large transmission network so that electricity can be evacuated from the new power stations and brought to consumers.

“Unless we have completed the new transmission lines and grid stations, it will be useless to have new generation capacity,” Dr Chaudhry tells Dawn in his first interview with any media outlet in the country.”

“We are very hard pushed for achieving our (power transmission infrastructure expansion) targets in view of the new generation capacity coming into the system,” he adds.

An electrical engineer by profession with more than 31 years of experience in the power sector in the national and international utility and consulting industry, Dr Chaudhry took over his new job in July this year. One part of his job is to complete new transmission projects, upgrade the existing network in the next two years and revamp his organisation on modern lines.

We need a paradigm shift (at NTDC). It requires a lot of effort and I am ready to do my best to meet the challenge

“Although NTDC was created out of Wapda in 1998 as part of the government plan to organise the country’s power sector on corporate lines in order to make it responsive to the demands of the changing economy, the process of transforming it into an efficient organisation could not be implemented.

Dr Chaudhry plans on hiring international consultants and overseas Pakistanis for revamping NTDC, and intends to engage all stakeholders — government, donors, contractors, etc — for timely completion of projects. “We are going to devolve power so that no single person has control over everything. This will help end delays, curb misuse of power and waste of funds.”

“A deep-rooted public sector culture and ad hoc-ism are a major obstruction (towards achieving goals). The processes are weak and officials do not seem to know what their job description is,” Dr Chaudhry, who has managed power infrastructure projects across the globe including Canada, US,, Africa, India, Indonesia, the Middle East and Pakistan; he says.

He points out that the company requires at least nine months for awarding a contract if everything goes according to the script and the process doesn’t encounter any roadblock. “In today’s scenario it is not only unthinkable but also unfeasible. We need to squeeze this period to at least two months to keep pace with today’s requirements.”

NTDC owns, operates and maintains fourteen 500KV and thirty-seven 220KV grid stations, 5077km of 500KV transmission line and 9631km of 220KV transmission line. But years of neglect and lack of funds means the network could not be upgraded or expanded as, with the passage of time, demand for power grew.

As a network operator, NTDC has a critical role, it has to match not only the availability of its transmission facilities with the timing of new power generation plants, but also to periodically refurbish and upgrade its existing system to cater to the increased load demand put on by the distribution companies.

“We haven’t invested in our assets in several years because of a lack of vision and political will, as well as to deep-rooted ad hoc-ism that is a hallmark of public sector culture. The things we had planned in 1994 are being implemented now,” argues the NTDC boss, who claims he accepted the job only after he was given commitments that there will be no political interference in NTDC and he would be given a free hand to run the company professionally.

Recently, the central power purchasing agency of NTDC was separated and converted into an independent company to operate as the sole purchaser of power in the country; this is in order to allow NTDC to focus on improving and expanding the power transmission network as part of the government’s plans to do up the power sector.

“One of the major reforms or changes I intend to bring about at NTDC is to take financial powers from its board because its job is only to make policies,” Dr Chaudhry contends.

Additionally, he wants to change NTDC’s governing laws and rules to keep out anti-corruption watchdogs — the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency — from hindering the decision-making process of the company and free its employees from fears of unnecessary pressure.

“We have been given a very big mandate (of constructing infrastructure for evacuating power from new generation facilities), which cannot be met unless our officers are in a position to take timely decisions without fear of interference by agencies. Mistakes will be made because we are required to complete the huge job given to us in a very short period of time.

“If anyone is found involved in any kind of irregularity or corruption, we will hand the case to these agencies ourselves. But they (NAB and FIA) instituting cases and inquiries on unverified media reports is not acceptable because it prevents officials from taking decisions.

“Unless we allow our officers to do their job with peace of mind we cannot ask them to take decisions and hold them accountable. We need a paradigm change (at NTDC). It requires a lot of effort and I am ready to do my best to meet the challenge.”

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, September 26th, 2016