Islamabad - Chairman Senate Sub-Committee on Power Wednesday observed that power losses, unprecedented loadshedding and malfunctioning of the system have made the lives of the people of Balochistan miserable.
He said that different areas of the province is facing 12 to 14 hours load shedding.
Senate sub-committee on Power that met with senator Agha Shahzaib Durrani in the chair deplored the performance of the NTDC. He said power losses, unprecedented load shedding and malfunction of the system have made the lives of the people of Balochistan miserable.
“There is 12-14 hours load shedding in different areas of Baluchistan province adding to the hardships of the people and no tangible steps have been taken to enhance capacity of the existing system,” Senator Agha Shahzaib Durrani said.
The committee was informed that the government hopes to ensure increased supply of electricity to the consumers in the recent summer season as 90 per cent constraints in transmitting electricity have been addressed after removing previous managing director National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC). Joint secretary Power Division Zargham Khan said that 10700 MW of electricity was added in the national grid during 2013 to 2018 but transmission lines were not available to evacuate additional electricity. He said that 22000 MW of electricity was available but transmission system was able to transfer only 19800 MW of electricity. He said that parallel action was required to lay transmission line but no proper planning was done in this regard. He said that Power Division was fully aware of delay in transmission line projects and had communicated to then MD NTDC to complete the projects in time.
Different areas of Balochistan facing 12 to 14 hours loadshedding
While briefing the committee regarding the removal of the MD NTDC, officials of Power Division informed that previous managing director (MD) failed to take measures to make proper planning for stability of transmission system to avoid blackouts and execute transmission line projects according to timelines. The official said that delay in transmission line projects was leading to threat of multimillion dollars penalty on account of capacity payments to be charged by power plants.
It was informed that former Managing director NTDC Dr Fiaz Ahmad Chaudhry joined office on July 15, 2016 at package of more than Rs 2 million per month and board of director NTDC removed him from service on July 7, 2017 due to none performing well. The government had removed previous MD and paid salary for one year according to service contract.
The sub-committee was informed that national electric power regulatory authority (Nepra) had issued show cause notice during tenure of previous managing director NTDC due to delay in 16 projects. The government was facing a threat of 0.7 million dollar per day penalty due to delay in transmission line to interconnect with 1320 MW Port Qasim power plant, the official maintained. They said that these 16 transmission line projects had been completed now and government was able to lay transmission line on time to connect with Port Qasim power plant.
Shahzaib Durrani said that removal of former Managing Director NTDC was a serious matter and the committee would probe it in detail by taking into consideration all the aspects.Senator Durrani sought details of the audited accounts of NTDC, show cause notices by NEPRA, minutes of board meetings in which it expressed its frustration for delay in projects, system failures and other matters related to stability of the system.He said that NTDC is an important institution and has crucial role in strengthening transmission, distribution and power regulatory mechanisms.
Chairman of the committee also expressed his anguish over the delay in provision of the relevant information and documents.
The Committee was brief in detail about the appoint procedure, composition of the Board of Director along with reason of appointment of former Managing Director NTDC.
The meeting was attended by senior officials of the ministry, NTDC and others.