Despite claims to the contrary, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has sustained huge losses during the last five years.These losses have been due to persistent lack of vision of the senior management.

It was because of this lack of vision that analysts and commentators have to dilate and write on this issue again and again.

During the last two articles, I have also spelt out various administrative and techno- commercial steps that need to be taken in order to make Wapda viable once again. Because of space constraints, only small sketches of each of the steps had been given. The current space would be used to place ten technical facets of Wapda’s working and operations; which if implemented with a professional understanding of the things can lead to immense dividends. All these points have been devised keeping the present operations in view.

Due to over-centralization and a below-par understanding of things (natural for rank outsiders) and an army way of being thorough, the operations in Wapda have been in a mess. Thoroughness in ones own field of operations is indeed a boon, but it quickly converts into a quagmire when the top management wishes to equip itself first with all the knowledge which, it being a rank outsider stands bereft of, before taking any decision.

The first step for any new management should be to make the effort towards improvement in decision-making. But decision-making can only be quickened through restoration of powers— both financial and administrative — to the concerned technical people and through implementation of the time-tested procedures available with Wapda. Besides improvement in the efficiency, efforts to improve upon decision-making would also result in the institutionalization of the various tiers and would also act as a damper to one-man show-offs. As delayed and flawed decision-making is the main reason for continuing losses, its correction retains the position of the most important of the issues.

The second step considered important in the immediate adoption of project management techniques through in-house and outside training for various mid and senior level managers of Wapda. All this is sure to net up to Rs10 billion extra for the utility. This scheme would also help Wapda in the timely and economic completion of the various water related projects underway. This would also focus on the present inadequacies of the system and help the technical resource of Wapda to improve on itself.

The third step should be the introduction of the concept of Technical Audit. With proper adoption of a custom-tailored programme, Wapda is sure to save as much as Rs2.5 to 3.5 billion each year by doubling of the operational life of it’s equipment. This aspect of the set of steps is of utmost importance when we see that 6689 distribution transformers equating 670 MVA got damaged during the last fiscal against 5821 and 532MVA during the FY 97-98. Similarly, 323,555 and 40,534 trippings of the less than and above 20 minutes variety in 1997-98 ballooned to 509,884 and 59,718 respectively during the last FY 2002-03. Technical audit can thus lead to an improvement in the system and a better service for the electricity customers.

Fourth would be the novel concept of intra-formation inspections. As the name implies, different formations would inspect their counter parts and so on. For this no extra personal are needed and the existing strength would be able to take care of the issue. Alongside the direct benefits, we would also be able to inculcate the right kind of thinking in the relevant personal-specially when experts consider an audit minded professional way ahead of others.

Thereafter would be the special effort to undertake system development at all stages i.e. from generation to transmission and then on to the distribution level. This is indeed important but needing extensive financial outlays and a strong technical expertise-cum-conviction. Here priority would need to be given to the long pending 500 kv Gatti- Muzaffargarh transmission lines and the grids, the 220 kv lines needed to connect the long built OECF funded grids, the huge number of 132 kv lines for complete elimination of the 66 kv lines and so on. The importance of the above can easily be gauged from the fact that the IPP AES Lal Pir has not been requisitioned to supply any power since the last nearly two years because of system constraints, which limit evacuation of power from this plant situated near Kot Addu.

Additionally would be efforts to immediately convert the present exclusively oil-fired Wapda’s own thermal generating units, liaison with the gas companies and priority laying of the needed gas lines, arrangement of similar conversion in the IPPs and a complete rehabilitation of the thermal and hydel capacity: all this, however, needs a change in the present mind-set of the managers and a capacity to induct state-of-art schemes and technologies. Here it is pertinent to suggest that all this becomes next to impossible for a non-professional to comprehend. Moreover, it would be even more sad if the new management has the need to learn its way through the tenure. Actually Wapda should have the benefit of receiving the incoming experience- rather than to be on a perennial giving end. Here it would be apt to state that system development has to be under-taken on priority and as an emergency measure, because each passing hour is a loss. As a consequence, the new management would have to move fast, unlike what has happened during the last five years.

Seventh on the rung would be an effort to update the various standards and specifications fixed for utility operations in an effort to reduce losses and in order to increase upon the present level of efficiency. As quite a few of these imperatives have remained suspended during the last five years, correction of the situation is bound to be hard and tardy. Moreover, only a very serious effort would be able to achieve anything substantial.

As the eighth measure, an immediate effort would be launched to arrange for better communication between various officers of the utility. This can be through the on-line configuration, the PLC (power line communication) and the SKADA systems. The as yet available PTCL telephony is simply not able to deliver and nor is ever considered enough anywhere in the world— specially in case of Utility operations. It is further elaborated that each penny expended in this direction is sure to give an equal return very much within the first year— indeed an exceptional rate of return.

As the ninth of the ten imperatives, the new management would have to consider transfer of expensive loans- both in the local and the foreign currencies, to the newly buffeted local and foreign banks operating in Pakistan. As finance can be arranged at a very cheap price these days transfer of expensive portfolios can result in easing up of the current stifling vice grip of loans. The GOP would be requested to extend help, because Wapda’s profitability would result in lesser explicit and implicit contingency liabilities - which for the FY 2002-03 were upwards of the Rs100 billion.

Even a small eased-up under this head is sure to receive laurels from the WB/IMF — a situation very much to the liking of the government. This purely financial issue is also of great importance because by transferring the expensive loans, money would be spared for the new management to take up technical issues.

The last and the tenth of the steps would be the resolve to leave technical issues to be dealt with by the professionals alone. This can be termed as an end to over-centralization and the present lack of confidence in the professional. With a little understanding, we see that this crisis of confidence has grown out of ignorance and an unstable thought process. It can also stem out of bias and prejudice ingrained in the mind of a particular person or a group of persons against others — and probably this has been the case in Wapda. Many managers came with a tainted mind and this taint is what that has led to the greatest of all losses.