LAHORE, Dec 12: Wapda is facing a Rs200 billion deficit because of government policy, a Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) official said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at a safety conference organised by the Pakistan Wapda Hydro-Electric Central Labour Union at the Labour Hall, Pepco Managing Director Munawwar Basir Ahmad said Wapda was facing a Rs72 billion deficit because consumers in Federally Administered Tribal Areas and other tribal areas did not pay their utility bills. It suffered an equal deficit because of a three-and-a-half-year delay in tariff revision after increase in furnace oil prices. He said the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation had also to pay Rs30 billion for power supply under the government policy.

Ahmad said Pakistan was facing a power shortfall of 1,000 to 2,000 megawatts because Wapda had not been allowed to execute power generation projects for the past 15 years. Only private companies were allowed to set up thermal power generation plants during this period. Wapda was, however, being allowed to set up thermal power plants. It was setting up a 425mw plant at Nandipur and a 800mw plant at Hyderabad. It would set up a 500mw plant at Chichoki Malian where a Chinese company had failed to build the plant.

Ahmad said Pepco had decided to adopt zero-tolerance policy and introduce international safety standards to prevent accidents at work. All power distribution companies had been directed to adopt standard operating procedures to prevent accidents at work and not proceed against workers refusing to work without safety measures. Workers would be provided safety suits within six months. They would be given vehicles equipped with bucket-fitted ladders for safe maintenance of power supply lines. A representative of workers would be included in the committees, which would investigate accidents at work.

He said a model training centre would be established for workers and no lineman or assistant lineman would be allowed to work on power supply lines without training and qualifying tests. He said the pay and allowances of employees of Wapda and its power supply companies would be reviewed. Workers would be given overtime by amending the government service rules under which they were being governed at present.