ISLAMABAD - A two-member bench of Supreme Court hearing Rental Power Projects case on Wednesday asked the government how the power tariff of RPPs was determined while the plants failed to produce electricity. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said there is negligence on the part of the Pepco, Genco and Nepra that machinery did not arrive, besides that the mobilisation charges were paid in advance. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain said it means there are so many white elephants as no one has checked the projects. The Chief Justice asked Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, who represented Techno Kamoki and Reshma RPPs, how the Nepra determined power tariff of Reshma RPP when you did not produce the electricity besides receiving Rs4.07 billion as 14 per cent mobilisation charges in advance for 201MW? The Chief Justice said, You have pocketed the money and not produced power. Pirzada responded initially the total generation capacity of Reshma was 201MW, which was later reduced to 90MW. He said the reason of it was that out of 21 machines only 9 machines arrived in Pakistan. The Chief Justice asked him whether his client has returned the advance payment. The learned counsel replied they have paid back Rs96 million in cash on 31-01-2010 and also gave 23 KW to the buyer in gratis. He said since November 2010 the electricity has been produced by Reshma power plant. The Nepra counsel said everybody should share the responsibility. He informed that concerned authorities approached Nepra for tariff determination when the government had already paid the money to companies. He said the government released Rs50 million when the matter was pending in the Nepra. Regarding Techno Kamoki, he briefed the court that Kamoki plant, with generation capacity 70MW, is complete but due to buyer (Northern Genco), which have failed in its obligations, was not producing electricity. He, however, said the Nepra has approved reference tariff on 27-05-2009. Najam-ul-Hassan Kazmi, counsel for Nepra, said: According to the cabinet the contract has ended and now they have to renegotiate. Pirzada contended that their contract was never terminated and is very much alive. He said that due to non-operational of the plant many industries in Gujranwala have been closed down. Earlier, Ali Zafar counsel for Gulf Rental Power, with power generation capacity 60MW, said they got the project through open bidding. He said: Our plants performance is 98 per cent. He said they have fulfilled all the conditions of the Nepra and their machinery was though more than 10 years old, but has not completed 60,000 operating hours. Our tariff was the lowest. The investors of the company are from Gulf States, who love Pakistan very much. Raja Anwar-ul-Haq counsel for Techno Energy Private Limited, Sahowal, Sialkot, and Techno-E Power, Sumandari Road, Faisalabad, with 150MW total generation capacity each, said it was wrongly mentioned in 13-01-2011 Supreme Court that they have not imported the machinery of Techno Energy Power. The chief justice asked him why he had not filed the contempt against the petitioner or filed review petition. Anwar said the machinery has arrived at the site and available to produce the electricity, adding the plant is closed down and for that government is responsible. He apprised the bench that they have filed writ petition in the Islamabad High Court in which they have prayed for status quo of the plant. Regarding Techno-E Power, he said that they have spent Rs5 billion on the plant and the government has asked them to make transitional agreement and start producing the electricity. The hearing was adjourned till Thursday.