PESHAWAR, Aug 17: Peshawar Electric Supply Company Chief Executive Brig Tahir Saeed Malik has said that Pesco reduced its line losses to a considerable extent during the last one and a half year , while the overall recovery also registered an increase of 11 per cent during that period.

Speaking at a news conference here on Wednesday, Brig Malik said line losses had been curtailed by 0.6 percent which resulted in the saving of Rs137 million. He attributed these achievements to the replacement of defective meters and small transformers besides constitution of special monitoring committees to remove illegal connections.

These measures, he maintained, resulted in improving the billing position of the company by 1.06 per cent. "We have not only achieved the target set by Wapda, but also improved our collection by 24 per cent. Last year we collected Rs18 billion, but during the financial year 2003-4, the company collected Rs22.5 billion," Brig Malik added.

About the overall recovery position, he said Rs8.097 billion was outstanding against defaulters, adding that cases worth Rs731 million were in courts, out of which Rs508 million were outstanding against the Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate.

Likewise, he said, Rs4.091 billion were outstanding against different companies, of which Rs2.877 billion was outstanding against marble industries in the Shabqadar area. The Pesco chief executive said that Wapda had also announced a special relief package for defaulters which would help recover Rs2.575 billion.