KARACHI, Jan 20: For the first time in many years, the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation has succeeded in bringing down transmission and distribution losses from 40 per cent to 38 per cent over the past six months.
Similarly, the power utility has achieved the target of collecting Rs21 billion revenue. This was disclosed by the federal minister for water and power, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, at a press conference held at the KESC headquarters on Tuesday. Earlier, KESC officials briefed Mr Sherpao about the performance of the power utility.
The federal minister said the power utility had been tasked to reduce the transmission and distribution losses to 24 per cent by 2006. He said that under a financial improvement plan, Rs13 billion would be released to the KESC. He added that Rs1 billion had already been released and Rs3.62 billion would be released this year.
He said all the power stations run by the KESC had completely switched over to natural gas. A newsman asked the federal minister when the use of cheaper natural gas would benefit the consumers in the shape of downward revision of electricity tariff, he said the process had already begun.
Mr Sherpao recalled that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority had issued a notification according to which electricity tariff had been decreased.
He said that the KESC power plants could produce 1,364 megawatts of electricity, adding their capacity for generation was being enhanced to over 1,500 megawatts. He said the KESC had already restored 85 megawatts.
The federal minister said the KESC would have installed 10 40MVA power transformers by June. He added that such an improvement in the KESC infrastructure would greatly benefit consumers who would receive uninterrupted power supply.
Mr Sherpao said the KESC would also install 12 grid stations by 2006. He added that nine transmission lines were also being laid which would improve the KESC infrastructure in a big way. He said that the many KESC divisions and subdivisions were also being restructured.
He said that work on the installation of 120 11KVA feeders would start shortly which would benefit those localities where the KESC infrastructure would not be up to the mark.
He added that elected representatives of the people would also be involved in the exercise. The federal minister for water and power said the government had given a go-ahead to the direct link between the KESC and the Hub Power Company. He said the work on the project would be carried out on a turnkey basis. He added that tenders for the project had already been issued.
He said a task force would put forward recommendations which would be presented to the cabinet. He said that this was in line with what President Gen Pervez Musharraf had said at the joint session of parliament.
Speaking about mega water reservoir projects, the federal minister said technical and political committees were looking into the Kalabagh Dam project and the Greater Thal Canal project. He added that these committees would put forward their reports within six months. He said these projects would be implemented only when stakeholders reached consensus.
Mr Sherpao said a committee had been formed to look into the issue of outstanding dues to Federally Administered Tribal Areas. He said the government wanted to install electrical meters in FATA over the next two years.
The federal minister said it was wrong to say that newly installed meters in the city were fast. He said that meters became slow in time and they had to be replaced. He said that any independent authority could test KESC meters to determine whether they were fast or not. He added that elected representatives of the people were also being taken into confidence.
He said that the WAPDA had asked the Punjab University to test the meters to lay the doubts of consumers at rest. He added that the NED University could be asked to test the meters, provided the educational institution had the expertise to do so.
The federal minister said that at present the Sindh government owed Rs190 million to the KESC, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board Rs600 million and the towns of Karachi Rs600 million. He added that defaulters were being asked to pay their outstanding dues to the power utility.
He said the government had received no proposal from Turkmenistan about the sale of electricity to Pakistan. He said that Pakistan imported electricity from Iran for some areas of Balochistan where it was costlier for the government to supply electricity. He said India had asked Pakistan to export electricity, adding that a proposal for the construction of a SAARC gird was also discussed at some time. Wapda chairman Tariq Hameed and KESC managing director Brig Tariq Saddozai were also present.