KARACHI, ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday announced plans to conduct an audit of power plants set up by former premier Nawaz Sharif’s government in order to establish why the contracts had been signed “at very high costs”.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the government has kickstarted the process for two power plants set up by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) in the country, with others slotted to go under the scanner soon.
“PML-N increased generation cost to Rs15.53 per unit and sold it to consumers at Rs11.71 per unit,” Chaudhry said, claiming that a loss of Rs2.63 is being incurred for every unit of electricity. “The manner in which the PML-N government has toyed with national institutions needs to be highlighted,” he said.
Responding to Chaudhry’s allegations, Miftah Ismail, former finance minister of the PML-N government, welcomed the decision to conduct an audit. “I strongly welcome the decision… and would suggest that they should audit all the power plants set up by the PML-N government and those set up by the Punjab government, led by Shahbaz Sharif, too,” he told Arab News.
He also urged the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) to share details of “the 300 small dams which they claim to have set up in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa”, along with a report of the “Peshawar metro bus project which is still not completed and its price has gone up manifold”.
Pushing for transparency in all its endeavors, Ismail demanded that, once completed, “all the audit reports that the government intends to conduct must be made public”.
During the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) -- chaired by Finance Minister Asad Umar is Islamabad on Tuesday – it was suggested that the power tariff be increased ahead of the country’s planned negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November. However, the government decided against the move until the next meeting. It has already deferred the decision to hike electricity prices two times in the past.
The reluctance to impose extra tariff on the public could be traced to a widespread belief that approaching the IMF would mean agreeing to its harsh terms and conditions for Pakistan’s ailing economy. It would also be on the close heels of a recent increase in gas rates, turning into reality what the government predicted would be “painful decisions” for the public.
Within just two months of coming into power, the PTI government is facing severe criticism for its policies -- something which was reflected in the by-elections held on Sunday where the party lost a majority of the seats it had won in the general elections held on July 25.
“It was the inflation that exposed the performance of the PTI government in just two months’ time. IMF will not do the harm they themselves have done. They have slaughtered us,” Ismail said, criticizing PM Khan’s policies.
He observed that the state of the markets is fueling uncertainty in the country as exporters remain clueless about the stability of the US dollar and Pakistani rupee, in addition to the cost of power and other utilities. “Pakistanis are a resilient nation and will come out from this difficult situation, too,” Ismail said.
