THE Federal Cabinet, which met with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair on Tuesday, took another bold decision aimed at greater transparency in governance by giving permission for making the findings of an Inquiry Commission report on Independent Power Projects (IPPs) and ordering their forensic audit. The report revealed that the national exchequer suffered a colossal loss of over Rs. 4 trillion during the last 13 years because of circular debt and subsidies being given to power producers.
The decision comes close to the deadline given to an earlier Commission assigned with the task of forensic audit of the sugar and wheat scam for submission of its report. The Prime Minister has repeatedly pledged to take firm action once a detailed report is available on April 25 but it is to be seen whether or not the PM sticks to his words when the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has also swirled into action to probe reports of “plunder worth billions of rupees” through smuggling, price gouging, alleged subsidies and other aspects of these crises. Anyhow, apart from his commitment to punish strictly anyone found guilty of profiting from these scandals, the Prime Minister surely deserves credit for taking unprecedented action of making sugar/wheat as well as power sector reports public when people allegedly involved in these scams are influential and some of them also enjoy lucrative positions in the coalition government. The power sector report is comprehensive 278-page document detailing all aspects of the issue but the cabinet has opted for forensic audit of IPPs to get to the bottom of the problem as the sector has been plagued with serious malaises posing challenges not just to the successive governments but also to consumers as burden of irregularities and corruption has been put on the common man. Like sugar and wheat scandal, the latest issue too has different aspects, which must be probed judiciously to ascertain illegalities and undue payments. If IPPs earned huge profits strictly in accordance with the power policies prevalent at the time of setting up of plants then it is fault of the policy-makers and not that of the IPPs. However, if excess payments were made or undue profits were earned then not only the amount so swindled should be recovered but official who connived with them should also be penalized. The report has also substantiated the widely-held belief about tariff as it asserts Pakistan has regionally the highest power tariffs consequently raising the cost of manufacturing. The probe itself and the decision to make the report public are appreciable but the country and the people would benefit only if the Government carries out necessary reforms to rectify ills of the power sector and reduction of tariff.
