Power sector close to collapse under Rs513.37 billion debt

ISLAMABAD: Amid the unprecedented power shortages of over 7,000MW, Pakistan’s power sector receivables have risen to a whopping Rs513.368 billion in the first 10 months of the current financial year 2013-14, threatening collapse of the entire system.
According to the latest documents on receivables as of April 2014 available with The News, the provinces are required to pay Rs87.256 billion that include Sindh’s Rs54.547 billion, KP Rs20.540 billion, Punjab Rs6.619 billion, Balochistan Rs5.550 billion and the AJK’s Rs36.693 billion.

The shocking fact is that the government has failed to collect electricity bills from private sector consumers as this sector has emerged as the biggest defaulter owing a mammoth Rs345.386 to the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco).

The document also unveils that the domestic sector in Fata is required to pay Rs32 billion, which has also been included in the head of private sector consumers.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the government was going to implement a special plan next week to improve the recovery of electricity bills as the finance ministry had no money to clear the circular debt that had risen to over Rs300 billion.

The prime minister is worried and annoyed over the appalling situation of power sector and it is clear that the Ministry of Water and Power is bound to speedily recover these bills and clear the circular debt. However, the finance ministry will also depute a senior official to help the Ministry of Water and Power to recover the dues.

Dar said that he was going to soon pay more to the Ministry of Water and Power from the head of inter-tariff differential subsidy so that PSO’s imminent default could be averted.

Meanwhile, the IPPs have reduced their power generation by over 1,600MW despite the fact that they have the capacity to generate 8,500MW of electricity. They have reduced their generation just because of non-availability of the required liquidity. They have no money to pay the interest to banks on loans they have borrowed to purchase the fuel. The government owes Rs210 billion to the IPPs and if the situation continues unabated, then the IPPs may halt their operations exposing the country to more loadshedding, according to Adbullah Yousaf, the Chairman of Advisory Council of the IPPs.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan State Oil is on the verge of being declared a defaulter as one of its letters of credit (L/C) is going to expire on Friday, June 13.The dues of PSO have also swelled to Rs130 billion as of today that the power sector has to pay to the state-run entity.

“We have supplied furnace oil of Rs160 billion to the power sector by June 9, 2014 in the current financial year and in return PSO miserably lacks the liquidity as the power sector is not paying for the fuel it has used so far,” a senior official in PSO told The News.“This situation has exposed PSO with zero liquidity because of which it has no fiscal space to place more orders to import furnace oil for power generation.”

Cable operators have no authority to close channels: minister

 

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid has said the law was taken into their hands on the Geo TV issue and that cable operators have no authority to decide which channel can go on air and which cannot.
Also, he added, the army and the government stand united over the issue of national interests.

Talking to the media here on Saturday, the minister said the cable operators were not authorised to ban any TV channel and warned that strict action would be taken against those who violated the law and banned channels.

Pervaiz Rashid said the Pakistan Army is standing by the government to improve ties with India. He said it was not the army but an individual Pervez Musharraf who took the decision on Kargil and then had to go down on his knees before the then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He said the army as an institution had never intervened to sabotage Pakistan-India relations and stated he was hopeful it would not be done in future.

Senator Pervaiz Rashid said we as a nation should look forward and put behind the past bitterness with India, adding that Narendra Modi had been elected by the Indian people and we respect their decision.

About the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s protest call against rigging in the last general elections, he said bringing some people on the streets did not mean a protest. He said the Election Commission of Pakistan had already rejected Imran’s objections of rigging in Sargodha.

He said the government would hold a dialogue with those who wanted peace and the elements disturbing peace would be dealt with strictly.

APP adds: Pervaiz Rashid said talks with the Taliban had not ended yet, adding that few people did not want talks.

He said Pakistan could not ignore changes in its neighbourhood as it would have to deal with the new government of India, adding the elected people would formulate foreign policies for the next five years.

The minister said: “Pakistan is responsible for its deeds and India for its own and we should keep our deeds correct.”

The minister said it was unfortunate that big media houses had given ‘scissors’ in the hands of cable operators, adding cable operators could not be allowed to violate the law. “It is good news that cable operators are reverting,” he added.

The minister said Pemra had initiated action and hoped that cable operators would do their own job and let the authorities do theirs.

“People want a completion of the journey to success and prosperity and they have brought Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the government for it,” he added. He said no one could derail the government as such attempts remained unsuccessful in the past by some people, adding, statements of PTI Chairman Imran Khan should be ignored. “How could he criticise us when he was unable to run the KP government properly?” he added.

To a question about the transfer of the CCPO Karachi, he said Shahid Hayat was a good officer who had maintained law and order in the city and Sindh ministers had appreciated his role and it would have been better if he had remained the CCPO.

No reason to close channel if it apologises: Pervaiz

 

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid said on Thursday that there was no justification for shutting down a channel and if it had made a mistake, realised it and tendered an apology, it should be accepted. He said that it was advisable to follow the policy of live and let others live (Geo or Jeenay do).
He said the media-related issue would be resolved amicably soon as in the given situation, the issue was not of Geo but of the freedom of expression in a democratic society.

He stated this in an informal chat with media persons after he visited, along with members of the family, the residence of senior journalist Hamid Mir to inquire after him.

The minister recalled how he had resisted when the Supreme Court registrar had pushed for the banning of another TV channel and he had the same policy now that no television channel should go off the air.

About the speculation of the ban on Geo channels, the minister said, “The issue is not of Geo, it is about the freedom of expression in a democratic society and we have bigger issues in our country and all have to find a solution together.”

In this context, he referred to the challenges of terrorism, issues of economy, energy crisis and education and health of children. With regard to the situation arising from the Geo issue, the minister urged the media to bring an end to the infighting.

He confirmed having met representatives of different media organisations, including APNS, CPNE and PBA and his meetings with heads of media groups: Hameed Haroon, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, Mian Amir, Zuberi and Mujeebur Rehman Shami.

Asked for his views on the law ministry’s opinion on the issue, he said his ministry had sent its views on the matter to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).

“Pemra is an independent institution and let it decide about the issue in its meeting. Neither I nor anyone else should try to dictate it,” the minister maintained.Earlier, the minister, along with his spouse and children, met the bedridden journalist at his residence and remained with him for some time.

“I, along with my family, met Hamid Mir and his family. It was a family get-together. Mir’s health is much better than it was when I met him in Karachi earlier.” Rashid expressed his gratitude to the journalist for gifting him his book and said he felt honoured on receiving the gift signed by Hamid Mir. The book consists of Mir’s columns.

City beat Baggies to close on Liverpool

MANCHESTER: Manchester City narrowed the gap to Premier League leaders Liverpool to six points with a comfortable 3-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion at Eastlands on Monday.

Pablo Zabaleta, Sergio Aguero and Martin Demichelis all scored for City as three different Argentinian players netted in a Premier League match for the first time.

West Brom showed brief moments of skills and had pulled the score back to 2-1 through Graham Dorrans, but ultimately City had too much quality.

City will close further on Liverpool should they win their game in hand, although they still need the Merseyside club to drop points in their remaining three games if they are to take the title themselves. (AFP)

RECORDER REPORT: KSE close of day

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100 index closed higher on Friday having 26892.23 shares with a positive change of 49.70 and volume of 156,837,960 shares.
High and Low were 26979.01 and 26800.78 respectively. Total volume traded in the market was 203,346,490 shares with 364 total traded companies out of which 168 were up, 173 were down and 23 were unchanged.
Construction and Materials (Cement) was the top traded sector with total traded volume of 60,875,000 shares. It was followed by Commercial Banks with a total traded volume of 24,830,100 shares.