ISLAMABAD, June 15: With electricity shortfall touching 7,000MW, now it’s Rehman Malik’s turn to sort out the power crisis. The prime minister’s adviser on interior on Friday asked the cabinet committee on energy to give him an opportunity, claiming he would fix the distribution companies into making full recoveries and overcoming loadshedding.As the nine-member ministerial committee of the cabinet, led by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, fumed over loadshedding which has now exceeded 18 hours in certain areas, and grilled Secretary of Water and Power Imtiaz Kazi and head of the Energy Management Cell Tahir Basharat Cheema for failing to meet even 50 per cent of the target given for recovery of receivables, it was evident that about 1900MW of generation capacity was lying idle because of oil and gas shortage mostly because of non-payments.

The maximum demand at present is 17,500MW. The meeting was informed that a 500MW shortfall translates into a one-hour loadshedding that meant the current shortfall of about 7000MW was resulting in a countrywide blackout of 14 hours. Some of the ministers, however, made guesstimates that 10-hour loadshedding was taking place in cities and for 16 hours in rural areas.

Some of the ministers, including Minister for Kashmir Affairs Manzoor Wattoo, aggressively called for taking heads of distribution companies (discos) to task and sack them for failing to meet recovery targets. Some of them also wondered why loadshedding was limited to three hours in Karachi even though the KESC procured more than 700MW from Wapda.It was also clear from the proceedings of the cabinet committee seized with suggesting workable solutions to the federal cabinet next week to increase power generation from 10,500MW to 14,000MW that many dimensions of the power crisis were still unclear or new to policymakers.

For example, it surprised members when a former chief of Pakistan Electric Power Company, Mr Cheema, explained that there was no centralised system of monitoring after power supply quotas were allocated to different distribution companies and there was no tool with the National Power Control Centre to stop if any distribution took away power supplies in excess of allocated quota. In fact, it became known the next day how much electricity had been consumed by respective discos, Information Minister Qamar Zamar Kaira told journalists.

The Secretary of Water and Power, Imtiaz Kazi, told the committee that about 2000MW of generation capacity could be put to use if gas and furnace oil were provided through release of money by the finance ministry, adding that the move could reduce loadshedding by four hours.

The secretary came under criticism from ministers when Finance Secretary Abdul Wajid Rana questioned how he could provide more money when discos had not been able to recover more than Rs35 billion in arrears last month against a target of Rs70 billion set by the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE). He said non-recovery of dues was the primary issue in the energy crisis, but Mr Kazi said it was a minor cause, saying the power sector used to get 700mmcfd of gas that has now come down to less than 300mmcfd.A sudden diversion of gas from Rousch power is reported to have caused serious damage to the plant a day earlier. Similarly, 870MW of Kapco, 213MW of Orient, 300MW of Hubco, 207MW of Halmore and 210MW of Saif Power plants were closed due to gas and fuel shortage and fuel reserve position at other stations was at critical stage.

An official statement said that 200MW of electricity could be added to the national grid provided that gas or furnace oil was ensured.The newly-appointed Water and Power Minister, Ahmad Mukhtar, only listened to the criticism to grasp the ticklish situation.

The finance minister, who has been leading the CCOE for almost a year and has publicly conceded the government’s failure in resolving the energy crisis, said: “It appears there is a serious management problem and the government will have to come out with stern and radical actions to rectify the situation.” We will have to revive the confidence of the public by reducing loadshedding.

Mr Kaira said if heads of distribution companies were violating allocated power supply quota, “perhaps we will have to fix them first. How can they go against policies of the government. They need to be sorted out”.

ENTER MALIK:

It was at this stage that the jack of all trades, Mr Rehman Malik, offered his services.

“Leave it to me, I will sort them (discos) out and correct their systems. I will ensure that recoveries are 100 per cent and loadshedding is reduced,” he was quoted as telling the committee. His offer would be placed before meeting of the federal cabinet.

The chairman of the committee, Dr Shaikh, formed two sub-committees of the energy committee to meet again on Saturday and Monday to prepare a plan for the federal cabinet to increase power generation by 4000MW.

The meeting was informed that Lahore Disco was being provided 2000MW, Faisalabad 950MW, Gujranwala 1000MW, Multan 1500-1800MW, Peshawar 1500MW, Hyderabad 600-800MW, Sukkur 425MW and Islamabad 800MW.

The official statement quoted the CCOE as having asked the ministry of water and power to ensure that the discos be made to follow the loadshedding formulas and non-complying ones were taken to task. The committee expressed its reservations that despite presence of the central control system operating within the command of the Water and Power Division how could distribution companies venture to violate the system.

The committee also directed that there should be no discrimination in loadshedding between urban and rural areas and between different cities, the statement said, adding that ministries and their secretaries concerned were asked to bring the loadshedding management plan in the light of the projected target of 14000MW in the next meeting.

Ministers Qamar Zaman Kaira, Maula Baksh Chandio, Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Dr Asim Hussain, Minister of State Khawaja Sheraz, Adviser Rahman Malik and federal secretaries attended the meeting.