The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), under the guidance of its Vice-Chancellor Dr. Nadeem ul Haque has formed a ‘PIDE Power Commission’ to research and find out solutions to the long standing energy sector problems.
The commission comprises power sector experts with decades-long experience in the sector, say a press release issued by the Institute on Sunday.
Pakistan’s power sector has been in crisis for years. Too many players in the system confuse each other to cumulate losses and give subsidies while at the same, the circular debt is rising continually. Surprisingly, no government has taken the power sector with the urgency it deserves, and no serious research has gone into understanding the issues. Whatever decisions are made are at the advice of international financial institutions, who do not understand the local dynamics of the problem.
The members of the Commission include Engr. Tahir Basharat Cheema, Former MD, PEPCO; Engr. Salis Usman, General Manager Power Planning, NTDC; Engr. Mujahid Islam Billah, Ex. CEO, FESCO; MrBasharat Ali, CFO, PEPCO; Engr. Sajad Haider Syed, Dy. Manager, NTDC; Engr. Masood Akhtar, Former GM, NPCC; Engr. Azhar Iqbal, Director Finance, PEPCO; Engr. Adnan Riaz Mir, GM, Monitoring, PP&MC; and Engr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, Ex GM, NPCC.
Energy is a chronic problem that eight governments have not been able to solve. Due to mismanagement and weak governance in the power sector, massive transmission & distribution losses occurred (Rs. 473 billion during 2021, out of which Rs. 402 recovered through tariff and Rs. 71 billion was added to circular debt).
