Year: 2021

Management issues caused countrywide breakdown: NTDC

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ISLAMABAD: An inquiry committee of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) has identified governance, ownership problems and poor chain of command for countrywide power breakdown early this year, but has absolved its own team of any responsibility. In its report, the four-member inquiry committee also quoted letters written by some of its members for improvement of the electricity generation system and its safety protocols and equipment to prove that the NTDC had been highlighting the system’s weaknesses. “No NTDC’s officer/official has been found negligent for discharge of his duties, as…

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ECC may stop payments to IPPs

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SLAMABAD:The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) is likely to approve the withholding of billions of rupees worth of payments to the independent power producers (IPPs) following an investigation launched by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The Inquiry Committee on Power has said that the IPPs had received excess payment of Rs1,000 billion. However, rather than demanding the return of payments, the government has signed a revised deal with the IPPs for payment of Rs403 billion to them. In its last meeting, the ECC deferred discussion on the issue. However, it is…

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Govt set to raise power tariff by Rs3.9 per unit

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ISLAMABAD: In another development, the government is all set to increase power tariff by Rs3.4-3.9 per unit under the head of FCA (Fuel Charges Adjustment) for the consumers utilising 300 units a month and private agriculture consumers. The Power Division (PD) to this effect has sent a summary to ECC that meets today (Wednesday), seeking approval of passing the net increase of Rs3.4-3.9 per unit in electricity tariff with impact of Rs17 billion under the head of FCA for the period starting from November 2019 to June 2020 arguing it…

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Circular debt management plan gets CCoE’s nod

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ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) has approved the Circular Debt Management Plan (CDMP) 2021 to ensure effective management of the rising debt. Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Minister Asad Umar chaired the CCOE meeting on Monday. The meeting discussed the summary of the comprehensive CDMP, which covers the three-year period from the fiscal year 2020-21 to FY2022-23, describes mechanisms and initiatives to address the issue, and suggests an action plan to control the flow of circular debt with a monitoring matrix. The committee also discussed the need for fast-tracking…

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Gwadar port a gateway to the shortest, economical route for Central Asia

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Gwadar port of Pakistan is a gateway to the shortest and more economical route to the landlocked Central Asian Republics (CARs). The trade from Gwadar port to CARs will reduce the distance to 50 percent as compared to the distance from Iran, and freight charges less by around 30 percent. The increased trade activities with CARs will generate more jobs, increase tax collections because of the increase in the volume of goods. Prime Minister Imran Khan in a statement recently said that Pakistan’s Karachi and Gwadar ports could become “the…

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