LAHORE, Nov 14: Wapda chairman Zulfiqar Ali Khan has said that the hydel profit to be paid to the AJK government for the Mangla project would naturally be passed on to consumers in the shape of a higher tariff.

He was talking to reporters after an Iftar party at Wapda House on Thursday. Since the NWFP has been paid the profit on Tarbela project for the last many years, it is natural for the authority to make a similar payment to the Azad Kashmir government, he added.

The NWFP is paid Rs6 billion annually, which is extorted from consumers in the shape of a surcharge.

Answering a question, the chairman said the federal government had not fulfilled its promise to pay the bills of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It has also not paid the bills for agriculture tubewells in Balochistan and Azad Kashmir. These bills are in addition to the unpaid bills for some federal departments and ministries, he said. The dues have added up to more than Rs9 billion during the last four months.

The chairman also informed reporters that the authority planned to hold a seminar on power tariff next Monday, where all stakeholders would be invited to sort out reasons for the high tariff and find ways to reduce it.

The authority also plans to establish a model sub-division in every circle, where all modern facilities would be provided along with extra staff, who would get 33 per cent extra pay as an incentive for efficiency.

The chairman denied having any information about his removal from the office. “Journalist might be better informed than me in this regard,” he added.

About reports of Nepra’s notifying an increase of nine paisas, Mr Khan claimed that no increase could be effected unless it was notified by the federal government, which had not done so. The authority had neither asked for any further increase in tariff nor it planned to do so, he maintained.

“The authority would brief the new government about its income and expenditures and let the new rulers decide the future strategy,” the Wapda chairman claimed.