ISLAMABAD, Jan 29: The World Bank-funded $300 million Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC-II) to Pakistan is likely to be delayed owing to the government’s non-compliance with criteria on the power sector reform, it is learnt.

“The bank has taken a very strong position on power sector reform, particularly financial and administrative independence of the breakaway companies of Wapda. They are not ready to grant waiver on this account,” says a government official.

An appraisal mission of the bank is currently in Pakistan to examine progress on various policy measures agreed to by the government to qualify for the bank’s soft-term programme.

The official said that there were four to five issues on which the bank had voiced concern. Except the power sector reform, he added, all other issues were at an advanced stage.

The power sector issues are unlikely to be resolved over the next two months as several complexities were involved, he said.

The government, the official explained, had not been able to find a way to subsidize the loss-making companies although a Rs33 billion subsidy had been estimated to maintain a near-uniform tariff all over the country. This will take at least two months, he said.

It would not be a 100 per cent uniform tariff for the companies, but an average tariff would have to be put in place to avoid political backlash that may arise if different tariffs were applied in different parts of the country.

The government is not yet clear about a common electricity carrier to be known as ‘Central Power Purchase Authority (CPPA)’ that will finally become a sort of ‘electricity stock exchange’ to whom power producers will sell their electricity and distribution companies will purchase it for onwards supply to consumers.