Year: 2021

The government has released second installment of Rs135 billion to 20 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) against their total outstanding receivables for selling electricity to Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA), it said on Tuesday. The released amount is 60 percent of total outstanding receivables as the government had paid 40 percent in first installment in June this year, thus repaying IPPs dues, accumulated till November 2020, in full. The repayment of IPPs receivables is part of the government’s drive to reduce circular debt in the power sector as agreed with International…

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The Government of Pakistan (GoP) and M/s Barrick Gold PLC Canada are said to have started negotiations to settle the dispute on Reko Diq as M/s Antofagasta of Chile is seeking financial settlement of their share in the award of $6 billion, well informed sources told this correspondent. Sharing the details, the sources said, on July 17, 2019, a Tribunal of the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (1CSID) found Pakistan to have violated the Pakistan-Australia Bilateral Investment Treaty and awarded $6 billion (approx.) plus interest against…

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The federal cabinet on Tuesday rejected the recently-released audit report which hinted at billions of rupees of irregularities in Covid-19 expenditure, vaccination process and Ehsaas relief programme. The cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan also asserted that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was bound to hold the next general elections on the basis of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in line with the recent legislation carried out by the parliament. The cabinet expressed its satisfaction over the ‘reduction’ in prices of food items by 0.67 per cent while media…

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With easing of bottleneck in the national grid, NTDC will be able to supply around 27,000mw of power by June 2022 against earlier volume of 25,000mw. “We are working on these technical limitations in order to ensure smooth power supply to major load centers”, he said and adding priority has been given to the augmentation work involving 13 different segments with clear direction to complete it by the deadline. Out of 2410mva, 910 are in the 220kv system while remaining 1500mva are in the 500kv grid, Ahmed told The News.…

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