ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: Commenting on a report, Wapda has clarified that since the inception of Discos, all kinds of tariff related subsidies/waiver of debt liability by converting the GoP equity in Wapda were passed on to Discos.

In a statement, Wapda said that Rs86.7 billion had been transferred to corporate entities against the equity received from the government of Pakistan since 1998, including Rs36.4 billion in 1998, Rs18.3 billion in 2001-02 and Rs31.95 billion recently.

It said the recent financial restructuring of Discos has nothing to do with tariff or losses of Discos. It was carried out to improve their capacity to borrow money in line with the State Bank of Pakistan prudential regulations.

However, the Wapda spokesman did not elaborate how the negative balance sheets of majority of the Discos suddenly turned into positive if Wapda had fully passed on Discos’ share.

Dawn report was based on information gleaned from federal government sources who had actually restructured the balance sheets of Wapda and Discos. It stands by the report and is ready to reproduce the official record if Wapda spokesman so desired.