ISLAMABAD, Oct 2: The government has planned to review the power tariff structure in order to determine the economic viability of the distribution companies (discos) of Wapda.

Sources told Dawn on Monday that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) will be a part of the review process so as to be fully aware of the tariff application and determination matters related to the distribution operations of each disco as well as the overall power sector.

Economic subsidies and the extent of cross-subsidisation will also be analysed.

The Asian Development Bank has agreed to provide necessary financial support to fulfil the need for a reliable power supply and to meet the existing and future requirements of Pakistan for sustained economic growth.

The ADB, however, wanted the government to make all the eight discos accountable to improve system security, reliability and efficiency, and reduce line losses.

An ADB Inception Mission visited Pakistan in March 2006 to help the Government of Pakistan define, plan, prepare and implement a programme for infrastructure development, consistent with the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF) for reducing poverty in the country.

The power sector, the ADB was told, was one of the fundamental infrastructure sectors in Pakistan requiring immediate enhancement in capacity to meet the economic growth targets. For the purpose, the distribution system must be strengthened and expanded to meet the national economic growth in future.

Electricity demand, the bank was further informed, was expected to grow by 8.3 per cent per annum during the period 2006-2015. It was, therefore, estimated that Pakistan would annually require about 2000MW additional power, for whose distribution, enhancement in capacity of discos’ distribution system was urgently required, the bank was told.

The government says that in order to achieve the economic growth and poverty reduction, it is essential to ensure a reliable supply of power to ever-increasing number of industrial, commercial, tables and domestic consumers.