islamabad
Giving approval to privatisation of DISCOs and GENCOs, Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif has said that in the face of keen interest shown by the foreign investors in Pakistan there is no justification for further wavering on the privatisation process.
The Prime Minister, while observing that the privatisation process in the energy sector had been much delayed, directed the Chairman Privatisation Commission to provide a clear roadmap and precise timelines for the privatisation of DISCOs and GENCOs in the next meeting in order to complete the entire process of privatization of Discos and Gencos by June 30, 2015.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a meeting on privatization of DISCOs & GENCOs and the loadshedding management. Minister for Finance Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif, Secretary Water and Power Nargis Sethi, Minister of State for Water & Power Abid Sher Ali, Chairman Privatisation Commission Muhammad Zubair and Chairman Wapda Zafar Mehmood attended the meeting.
In the meeting, the Prime Minister reviewed the roadmap for the privatisation of the Discos and Gencos. Chairman Privatisation Commission informed that on April 28, 2011 and Feb 10, 2014, the Council of Common Interests had already approved privatization of nine DISCOs and four GENCOs.
The Prime Minister said, “In view of the keen interest shown by the foreign investors in Pakistan, there is no justification for further staggering the privatisation process.” The Prime Minister further observed, “It is absolutely necessary to privatise DISCOs and GENCOs as soon as possible since there is no other way to cleanse the faltering system.
Prime Minister also reviewed the load-shedding management. The power theft, losses, pilferages and corruption in the sector had not stopped.
The Prime Minister directed Secretary Water and Power Ms Nargis Sethi to actively enquire about scam unearthed by the FIA in which people of LESCO were over-billed for about Rs 16b.
The Prime Minister directed Secretary Water and Power to also take action against those found involved in Rs3.2b embezzlement in DISCOs, and to investigate the purchase of transformers at exorbitantly high prices, resulting in billions of rupees loss to the national exchequer.