• Sindh Electric Power Regulatory Authority bill to be tabled in PA
• Decision taken to generate, distribute power at cheaper rates in Sindh
• 16 acres from Aladdin Park land to be given for bus depot of Red Line

KARACHI: In a landmark decision, the Sindh Cabinet on Wednesday approved the draft law for establishing a provincial electric power regulatory authority to generate and distribute cheap power in the province.

Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh told Dawn that the draft law would be presented in the provincial assembly for enactment in the next assembly session.

“With the establishment of SEPRA [Sindh Electric Power Regulatory Authority], the province will improve energy equity and eliminate energy poverty in the province,” he said adding that the provincial power regularity authority would end the province’s dependence on the Centre for fixing tariff and managing loadshedding.

He said that the cabinet decision to establish SEPRA was a historic step toward power generation, transmission and distribution in the province which was worst-hit by an energy crisis.

The energy minister said that Sindh was blessed with an entire value chain of energy resources, inter alia, coal, solar, and wind, with cost-effective access through air, land, and sea routes.

“These resources could be utilised for the generation of electricity, wheeled through the transmission network of the Sindh Grid Company to meet the demand of household, commercial and industrial consumers of the province at affordable prices,” he added.

Minister Shaikh said that constraints had been faced by the provincial power projects within the national framework.

He said that the chief minister told the cabinet that it was imperative that a holistic legal, policy, and regulatory framework for generation, transmission, distribution, and regulation was formulated so that energy equity was improved and energy poverty in the province was eliminated.

The cabinet was told that under Section (7)(4) of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Act 1997, the provinces had been allowed to construct power houses and grid stations and lay transmission lines for use within the province and determine the tariff for the distribution of electricity within the province.

The cabinet, which met with Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in the chair, after a thorough discussion, approved the establishment of the Sindh Electric Power Regulatory Authority.

Red Line

The cabinet also approved the proposal to provide 16-acre land of demolished Aladdin Park to the transport department to develop it as a bus depot/staging facility.

Transport Minister Sharjeel Memon told the meeting that Karachi BRT Red Line Project was being implemented in collaboration with Asian Development Bank and co-financers — including AIIB, AFD, and GCF — at a cost of $503.2 million.

He said that TransKarachi was an implementing agency for this project.

The BRT project corridor passes through urban areas of Karachi originating from Malir Halt and terminating at Tower via Malir Cantonment, Safoora, University Road, and Numaish intersection.

The features of the bus depot include a bus parking facility, bus inspection area, filling station (biogas), workshop, offices, bus wash, and vacuum facility, watch towers, security, and main entry gates, a water recycling plant, and fire pump room are also included.

The cabinet also directed the transport department to take over the land of the slaughterhouse to establish a biogas plant for the BRT Red Line project.

The provincial cabinet also approved a subsidy of Rs246.678 million for the Peoples Bus Service to meet the fare difference.

Minimum wage

On the proposal of Labour Minister Saeed Ghani, the cabinet approved the fixing of minimum wages for three categories of skilled workers — semi-skilled and highly skilled workers employed in 42 industries.

The new rate as approved by the cabinet would be effective at a rate of Rs26,000 for semi-skilled workers, Rs31,961 for skilled workers, and Rs33,491 for highly skilled workers with retrospective effect from January 2023.

The CM said that the new wages for workers of different categories would be considered from the next financial year.

Data sharing between SRB and FBR

Revenue Minister Makhdoom Mahboob told the cabinet that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) intended to sign a bilateral agreement for data sharing with the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) to develop an effective mechanism for the exchange of information between different public sector organisations for optimum revenue generation under the World Bank’s “Pakistan Raises Revenue” Program.

It was pointed out that the agreement was signed with the FBR on April 6, therefore the cabinet granted post-facto approval.

The cabinet on the recommendation of the health department also approved the appointment of Justice Abdul Rasool Memon and Dr Ghulam Rasool Shah as commissioners of the Sindh Healthcare Commission.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2023