Month: July 2020

The Pakistani government does not seem willing to shift its spending priorities despite the burgeoning COVID-19 challenges.  Pakistan has emerged as one of the countries with the fastest rate of coronavirus infections in recent weeks, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The country reported its first coronavirus case on February 26 and is now among the top 15 most-affected countries. More than 4,000 people have lost their lives to the disease in Pakistan since the beginning of the outbreak. Moreover, there is a significant shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and…

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ISLAMABAD: Provincial governments on Wednesday partially rejected the federal government’s much-talked about draft Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2047 initially for ten years (2030) to be reviewed each year, saying that projects of their interests have not been incorporated or ignored. This was the crux of a heavily attended hearing held in Nepra presided over by Chairman National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Tauseef. H. Siddiqui. He was supported by Vice Chairman Saif Ullah Chattha, Member KP, Engineer Bahadar Shah, Member Balochistan, Rehmat Ullah Baloch, Member Sindh Rafique Ahmad…

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The Minister for Energy was seen lauding his government’s efforts in the power sector the other day on the floor of the lower house. This is how far the joke goes. There is no point in debating who takes the podium in power sector mismanagement from the PPP government to the PTI’s. Lack of political will, misguided priorities, incompetence, and inaction – are the common adjectives one can attribute to all three government with magnitude of varying degrees. The last PML-N government gets its fair share of due credit on…

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ISLAMABAD: Amid criticism from provinces for allegedly ignoring their projects in long-term power generation plan, the federal government on Wednesday insisted the future energy plan would be based on sustainability and affordability instead of any inter-provincial quid pro quo. This was the crux of a day-long public hearing organised by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan 2020-47 (IGCEP), presided over by Chairman Tauseef H Farooqui. The IGCEP is finalised by the National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) with the support of international lending agencies…

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ISLAMABAD: While provinces and experts term the Integrated Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP 2020-2047) unrealistic, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday decided to constitute a technical committee to address the serious objections raised during a public hearing. During the hearing, held via video link, on the IGCEP 2020-47, the provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), key public and private sector stakeholders and experts raised objection over the proposed plan and termed it unrealistic and overambitious as it undermined the indigenous energy resources and demanded changes to the…

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