KP power projects, donors’ funding

Khyber Pukhtunkhwa finance Minister, Taimur Salim Jhagra disclosed in a meeting on hydropower projects that multilateral donor agencies including the World Bank, its subsidiary organisation International Finance Corporation and Asian Development Bank will provide $ billion economic and technical assistance for 1300 megawatt electricity generation projects, which shall be completed within the next 4 to 6 years. The claim of obtaining foreign loans of such big magnitude is pretty surprising for the experts who know about the modus operendi of funding by the multilateral donor agencies. That is why former Chairman WAPDA Engineer Fazal Shah, while in service, had advised the previous PTI government in 2014 to work out a provincial energy policy for which his organization would be willing to provide technical expertise. His useful advice was not taken seriously and the energy policy could not be put in place so far.

The policy of pick and choose and political interference had pushed the Pukhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (PEDO) into administrative crisis and in the past it remained plagued by resignations of its chairman and directors. The administrative vacuum is still there. How can 8 power projects of 100 plus megawatt each be executed by an organision which is in management crisis and has no well documented energy policy?

The provision of inexpensive electricity to industries will be worth much appreciation initiative and it will not only help in the revival of sick industries but also facilitate the implementation of industrial policy which had been announced in May, 2016. But it will require installation of provincial electricity transmission system as the electricity once injected in the national grid cannot be purchased at reasonably lower price for industries. A few months ago a news item in a Urdu daily revealed that the government may opt for establishing a provincial or local level power transmission systems and Distribution Company. But nothing was heard about afterwards.

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