WAPDA lost Rs 87.6 billion over last four years

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) was told on Friday that the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) had suffered losses worth Rs 87.6 billion and received Rs 68.1 billion in subsidy from the government during the last four fiscal years.

This information was provided to the assembly by Liaquat Ali Jatoi, federal minister for water and power, during Question Hour.

Responding to supplementary questions of the MNAs, state minister for water and power, Ameer Muqam, told the House that losses were Rs 12.8 billion in 2000-01, Rs 21.2 billion in 2001-02, Rs 28.3billion in 2002-03 and Rs 25.3 billion in 2003-04. The losses were a result of the drought-like situation in the country during the last four years.

The government subsidy came in shape of debt service liability of Rs 56.5 billion and cash subsidy amounting to Rs 11.6 billion, the minister added.

To another question, the minister said that 20 people were inducted into Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) during 2002 and 2004 on permanent bases. “The appointments were made against the deceased employees’ vacancies. Job quota was not observed during appointments because relatives of deceased employees were recruited on the posts,” he added.

He explained that 50 percent quota of jobs in the KESC was fixed for the residents of Karachi, 30 percent for Sindh and remaining for the other provinces. To a question of Shabbir Ahmed Khan of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, he said there were 10 electricity supply companies throughout the country and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) was responsible for determination of tariffs. “There are some variations in tariff depending upon location and conditions,” he said.

PPPP’s Yasmeen Rehman said people were dying in interior Sindh because of water poisoning and there was no one to take care of them. Chaudhry Nauraiz Shakoor, science minister, in response told the House that the federal government had sent its team to investigate the issue and examine the samples of water. He said that the provision of clean drinking water was the basic duty of districts governments.

He said the government had conducted examinations of the water samples in different districts including Gujrat, Faisalabad, Sialkot, and some districts of interior Sindh and other provinces and had found the water unsafe for drinking. zulfiqar ghuman

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