Chairman of Pakistan Economy Watch Brigadier (Retd) Muhammad Aslam Khan said on Tuesday that electricity distribution companies should not be immediately privatised by taking advantage of the chaos in the country on the issue of electricity bills. The practice of repeating failed experiments should be abandoned, as it may be in the interests of influential elites, but it is against the country’s interests, he said.
Aslam Khan said today that before the privatisation of discos, the masses should know how much relief they have gotten since Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) was sold in 2005.
He said that if the privatisation of (KESC) failed and the experiment with IPPs didn’t work, how could the privatisation of discos succeed in such a scenario?
He said that some private power producers are earning trillions of rupees with the help of a few top politicians and bureaucrats. This plunder of resources has been going on for years, which has squeezed the people and the business community.
During the investigation against some power producers, trillions of rupees of thefts, billions of rupees of corruption, and money laundering charges have been proved. Still, cases have not been registered against the offenders, he added.
He said that efforts to recover stolen finds from power producers were stopped, and those who unearthed the scam and proved corruption were fired from their jobs, after which the officers of any organisation did not dare to lay hands on the white-collar criminals running corrupt IPPs.
Despite this looting coming to the limelight, he added that this sector remains a favourite of top politicians and bureaucrats, which has ruined the country’s economy.
People are protesting against inflated power bills across the country, and people with low incomes are forced to commit suicide, but there is no relief.
According to the people monitoring the situation, some officers of WAPDA are also involved in the fraud of billions of rupees. Still, due to their influence, no action has been taken.
They claim that IPPs’ expensive power has bankrupted the state utility, the Water and Power Development Authority. It is also alleged that IPPs indulged in corruption and conspired with officials to get their signatures on contracts that allowed the procurement of expensive power, which they could not afford.
According to the officials of the Power Division, capacity payments to IPPs in the current financial year stood at Rs1.3 trillion, and the dollar-to-rupee conversion rate, imported coal prices, RLNG, and Kibor were the major factors determining the capacity payments.
The current plan to privatise electricity distribution companies is nothing but an attempt to plunder the national resources, which will further increase the people’s problems, they say.