MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 2: AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan on Monday directed the electricity department to take effective measures to stop power theft and line losses without taking into account any political influence or interference.
He issued the direction at a briefing here by the electricity department, AJK Hydro-Electric Board (AJKHEB) and Private Power Board (PPB).
The prime minister called for improvement in the standard of power supply, particularly addressing the complaints regarding shortage of voltage in certain areas. The department, he said, should also seek cooperation from the local members of the Legislative Assembly to reduce the losses and bring its system in conformity with the present day demands.
Earlier, Electricity Secretary Sardar Mushtaq Ahmed informed the premier that 69 per cent population and 95 per cent villages in Azad Kashmir had been provided the facility of electricity.
He said the government had fixed a revenue target of Rs1.2 billion for the department in the previous fiscal year, whereas it had recovered Rs1.64 billion.
Regarding the arrears, he said they ran into Rs1 billion, 51 per cent of which were outstanding against government and semi-government departments. The prime minister expressed anger over the matter and asked the electricity department officials to recover the amount.
The issue of power tariff, which has always been a matter of dispute between the AJK Electricity Department and the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), also came up at the meeting.
It was stressed that the tariff should be settled with Wapda and the per unit charges should not be more than Rs2.12 in view of the fact that the AJK government was bearing all the expenses of installation and maintenance of infrastructure.
AJKHEB Managing Director Iqbal Ratyal told the briefing that by 2011 the board would be able to generate 341MW power from different projects at a cost of Rs27 billion.
He said if the amount was enhanced by Rs6 billion, AJK could become self-sufficient in power.
PPB Director-General Mir Nazir Ahmed told the premier that his organization had carried out feasibility of different hydel power generation projects, whose estimated cost was around Rs18 billion.
He said the 1MW power project in Jadi Kas (Mirpur) was ready for commissioning and the feasibility of New Bang, Rajdhani, Batdarra, Chakothi, Barali and Gulpur projects had been completed.
Apart from this, he said, the feasibility of 600MW Kohala power project and 969MW Neelum-Jhelum power project was also ready.
The prime minister said his government earnestly wanted to encourage the hydel power generation projects.
He directed the officials to utilize their administrative and technical abilities to tap the resources of the state in the sector.
He said he would also invite the Kashmiri expatriates to invest in the sector and would take steps to remove the bottlenecks in this regard.
The prime minister said his recent meetings with the federal finance minister, Wapda chairman and other officials of the federal government had been very fruitful.