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Editorial overview Victim
or not policy “We
could do well with importing electricity “The
solution is deregulation,
Punjab, it seems,
has had it rougher than the rest of the provinces. Twelve to fourteen hours
of load shedding in big urban centres till about a week ago, all through the
summers, even in Ramzan. This despite the fact that Punjab boasts of the
least line losses [read theft] and best recovery patterns in the Discos
based in the province. A ripe scenario for some
political implications; a few weeks back, we saw them in the power riots
across the province, some deadlier than we thought. The chief minister, who
has made a permanent office in a tent to deal with the power crisis, was
said to have given his tacit approval to these protests. The investigation into
this discrimination against one province was easier said than done. What is
the principle for power or shortage distribution and whether it is
equitable? What exactly did the Eighteenth Amendment do to the subject of
electricity and what is the situation in provinces regarding generating
their own electricity? What is the rationale behind a national grid and what
has the Punjab done so far in terms of generation and conservation? Finally,
is the power crisis a manifestation of the crisis of the Pakistani state
itself? These were the initial
questions that we sought to address in this Special Report, knowing little
what lay in store — an elaborate structure of companies neatly divide
between generation (Wapda and Gencos broadly), transmission (NTDC) and
distribution (Pepco and Discos), overseen by a regulator at the centre (Nepra).
Is this structure part of the problem or the solution? Judging by the extent
of crisis, the solution is nowhere near. Sadly, no one seems to know it
either. One phrase that the
stakeholders keep repeating is “lack of political will”. One wonders if
there is a clearly laid down policy framework that is not being implemented
because of this lack of political will. The noises that are often heard, we
gather, are mere politicking before the election. Treating energy as a
structural issue that needs long term serious thinking is beyond the scope
of imagination of our political leadership. The legal and institutional
frameworks are there but what is lacking is a vision; thinking about the
needs of this country in a decade, in half a century and even a century from
now. Back to where we began —
the Punjab. The sense of victimhood claimed in such loud terms is not backed
by any action on ground so far in terms of generating electricity or
conserving it. Political sloganeering will generate a political response
come election time. The federal government would most likely pump in some
money to ease things for their voters. In the final analysis, all power to
politics; the country can take care of itself.
overview Of late, Chief
Minister Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif has been up in arms over what he terms
as an “unfair” treatment of the province at the hands of the federal
government, especially with regard to power outages. This summer, he set up a
tent office in the Minar-e-Pakistan ground, with no AC blowers, to register
Punjab’s protest. He even led public demonstrations against extensive
hours of load shedding and has been vociferously talking about the
“Zardari gang” (his own words) responsible for the situation. On August 23, in a press
meet, the CM again expressed his grouse over the fact that the industries in
Karachi are able to run six days a week whereas in Punjab the long hours of
power outages have reduced the actual number of workdays to merely three or
four. “This is a huge injustice to the people of Punjab,” he roared.
“This attitude of the federal government shall not be tolerated.” PML-N central leader and
MNA Pervaiz Malik tells TNS that massive load shedding in Punjab has badly
damaged the economy of the province. “The PPP government is clearly
targeting the people of Punjab for giving mandate to the PML-N. A large
number of industrial units have closed down in Punjab, rendering thousands
jobless while hundreds of industrial units are on the verge of closure,”
he says. Unfortunately, he says,
load shedding in Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Lahore is 10 to 18 hours while
in other areas of the country it is half of that. “Punjab contributes
nearly two-third to the country’s GDP, contributes 80 per cent to the
total electricity bills and in return gets nearly 60 per cent of power
generated in the country. It was decided at the Energy Conference to have
equal amount of load shedding throughout the country. The decision obviously
has not been implemented,” he says. Officials at Pepco and
Wapda confirm recovery of bills is higher in Punjab yet it faces more load
shedding than other parts of the country. “We don’t manage power outages
on the provincial level. It is handled by the distribution companies.
Fortunately or not, five out of ten power distribution companies fall in the
Punjab province while only one in KPK, Balochistan and Fata and three,
including KESC, in Sindh. Punjab consumes most electricity as it has maximum
number of consumers,” Ejaz Rafiq Qureshi, consultant to Pepco tells TNS. According to data compiled
by Pepco, Punjab consumed 68 per cent of total electricity generated in the
country in 2011. Lesco consumes 21 per cent of total electricity, Fesco 16
per cent, Mepco 16 per cent, Gepco 10 per cent, Iesco 2 per cent,
Balochistan 6 per cent, Sindh 12 per cent sans KESC, and KPK 16 per cent.
“Pepco follows a simple power distribution formula.
Earlier, we used to distribute shortfall among the distribution
companies according to their share in power consumption, but after the
Punjab government’s criticism, we modified the formula. Now we distribute
the generated electricity among companies according to their share,” says
Qureshi, adding Pepco does give some direction to distribution companies
regarding load management. “We recommend the
companies to not cut power to industries for more than six hours a day. We
also direct them to cut more power in rural areas than urban. So, the
companies like Gesco and Pesco, where we have more small industries, face
fewer hours of load shedding. Half of Lesco’s load is consumed by the
Lahore city alone, therefore it faces comparatively more load shedding,”
he says. Another objection raised
by Punjab is that it records the least electricity theft when it boasts of
the highest electricity bill recovery ratio. Presently, the private and
public sector owes bills worth Rs400 billion. “It also includes bills of
current month which usually are around Rs100 billion so even if we minus
this figure Rs300 billion are still to be paid to the distribution companies
by the public and private consumers. We have to pay almost the same amount
to PSO which means there is no money at all to invest in new generation
projects and infrastructure restructure or expansion. It is true that
recovery from Punjab is the best while Sindh province, without KESC, is a
defaulter of Rs50 billion, Fata with Rs25 billion is second among the
provinces and territories,” says a senior official of ministry of water
and power. Fesco recovers 99.8 per
cent in bills, Gepco 98.8 per cent, Lesco 98 per cent, Iesco 98 per cent,
Mepco 95 per cent, Sepco 51 per cent, Hepco 59.1 per cent, KESC (which is a
private entity) 85.6 per cent, Pesco 78.4 per cent and Qesco 41 per cent. Pepco records 35 per cent
in line losses, Hepco 34 per cent, Qepco 18 per cent, Lesco 13 per cent,
Gepco 12 per cent, Fesco 11 per cent and Iesco 10 per cent. So,
it demands that power should be distributed according to bill
recovery ratio. The officials at the
ministry of water and power and Wapda confirm the figures but think it is
impossible to match electricity distribution with bills recovery. They say
that the 18th Amendment clearly mentions that the first right on the
resources will rest with the province. Accordingly, Balochistan and Sindh
have the first right on electricity produced by natural gas and KPK and
Kashmir on hydel power. But they still distribute electricity according to
the share in consumption. Two months ago, too ensure
electricity is divided among companies according to the formula, the
minister for water and power appointed two representatives from every
distributing company in the central electricity distribution controlling
center at National Power Construction Company (NPCC) that calculates daily
generation and distribution of electricity — “to make this process more
transparent. We have also invited the Punjab government to send one of its
representatives to oversee the process,” a senior official at the ministry
of water and power tells TNS. He adds that during the
last 10 years more than 67,000 villages have been electrified in Pakistan
—“Even though we have not expanded the generation capacity and
infrastructure at the same speed”. In Bangladesh, an
overwhelming majority of villages is lit with solar power. It generates only
4500 mega watts of electricity while in Pakistan 1300-1500 mega watts of
electricity is produced and still the country faces outages. We haven’t
expanded our consumer base according to a plan,” he says. A member of board of
governors of Lesco tells TNS that electricity and load shedding formula is
simple: “We receive a fax every day about total generation of electricity
and Lesco’s share. We have also drafted a load shedding policy. But,
because Lesco has the maximum number of load shedding exempted feeders, it
becomes tough to enforce the load shedding policy. It is also true that in
Lahore line losses are around 13 per cent while in Qesco they are around 40
per cent. But when it is translated in money terms, Lesco’s share becomes
more than Qesco because it consumes only one-fourth of the power Lesco
consumes,” he says. After the 18th Amendment,
the provincial governments have the power to formulate energy policy and can
generate electricity. “We have met senior officials of the Punjab
government several times, they are least interested in constructing
electricity generating projects,” he says.
Victim
or not Politics does
wonderful things; it also does awful things. Sometimes it trivialises
serious matters in its own name, bringing conspiracy theories into issues
that need structural solutions. This is what the politicians have done with
that crucial commodity called energy, especially electricity. Revolutionary
statements uttered in a tent-office, sometimes instigating power riots, do
not substitute for policy. Sadly, this misplaced
political activism on the part of one provincial government is pitched
against an unfathomable inertia of the federal government. Between these two extreme
positions, the consumers face not just acute electricity shortages but a
distorted version of facts. That Punjab is the worst victim of load shedding
in the entire country may not exactly be a distorted fact, it does not help
a common man in Punjab to know that there is absolutely no power shortage in
Sindh or very little in Karachi or Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. His miseries double
when he comes to know that 700MWs of electricity have been snatched from
Punjab’s share and handed over to Karachi Electric Supply Company. Political conclusions are
readily drawn. In the drawing rooms of Punjab’s urban centres, even the
PPP supporters are forced to admit this is President’s Zardari’s revenge
on the voters of this province for not choosing his party. Others think his
allies — MQM and ANP — have forced him to keep Karachi and KP least
affected. The situation on ground
may be completely different from what these politically-loaded statements
imply. On ground, power has remained as overly-centralised as the state
itself. And this arrangement, kind of, worked till a point in time, the
provinces cries for loyalty notwithstanding. In its summary, presented
to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in April 2011, on what it thought
was a faulty interpretation of Article 157 of the Constitution, the Punjab
acknowledged this fact. It stated that the provincial governments
“entrusted their functions under Article 157 to Wapda at a time when the
supply and demand situation was quite satisfactory. The underlying rationale
was that the federal government would be able to meet the entire demand of
electricity in the provinces. However, in the current situation when the
federal government is not able to fulfill the requirements, the provinces
have a legal and constitutional right to withdraw from the said arrangement,
or make additional generation arrangements and undertake their functions in
terms of Article 157(2) of the Constitution.” Thereafter Punjab made
several assertions in this summary to remove the ambiguities in the said
Article “so that the provinces can play their rightful role in generation
of electricity”. Other provinces sided with Punjab’s interpretation and
so did the CCI. So Punjab’s position and
role in creating the right legal framework in view of the changed
circumstances must be applauded. Beyond this, though, there is the
institutional framework that needed to be laid and finally of course the
nitty gritty — of actual generation and conservation. So where does Punjab stand
vis-a-vis laying down an institutional framework, generation and
conservation. As for the former, its record is fairly impressive. It
established Punjab Power Development Company Limited (PPDCL) “to implement
the ADB-assisted five low-head hydel power projects in public sector and the
Punjab Power Development Board (PPDB) to facilitate power sector investments
in private sector”. Apart from that, “an independent Energy Department
has also been established by government of Punjab in 2011 to plan, oversee
and administer the development, growth and regulation of energy sector in
Punjab”. So far, so good. As for
generation, that has been a little tricky because that’s a long term
proposition. Yes there are plans galore on websites and projects promised in
solar, thermal and all spheres. Practically, there’s nothing on ground to
show in terms of generation. Besides, politics comes in handy. “Punjab the
worst victim of load shedding” sells well as an election slogan. The guns
are perpetually pointed towards the federal government which must make dams
and provide an equitable share of electricity. There are many who share
Punjab’s sense of victimhood. They say that the line losses other than the
technical ones, called administrative losses or theft in common parlance,
are the least in the Discos that are Punjab-based. According to rough
estimates, these losses are to the tune of 10-13 per cent as opposed to say
35 per cent in KESC or 38 per cent in Pesco or a little less in Qesco.
Besides, the recovery rate is much better in Punjab. So why penalise the
province by excessive load shedding, they ask. Actually, they miss the
central point — that Punjab consumes 68 per cent of the total electricity
generated in the country. So when the line losses incurred in Punjab are
calculated in terms of volume, they are still bigger than the smaller Discos
in other provinces. Hence the long hours of load shedding. The same principle holds
for conservation. But each time the provinces sit together to devise a
conservation plan, Punjab chooses to opt out. The common man does not know
that a two days off or an early market closure in Punjab means a lot in
terms of conservation. But, instead of this, the newly formed Energy
Department has posted some energy conservation guidelines for public offices
on its website. One look at these guidelines is enough to gauge how serious
the provincial government is about the crisis. The first one reads “Start
with basics — turn off lights when not required and use natural day light
to the maximum.” Politics does do awful
things. The complaints emerging out of the tent-office at Minar-e-Pakistan
are some of those.
policy Pakistan is faced
with a substantial shortage in the power sector for the past two decades.
There has been no significant addition to power generation in all these
years despite the fact that the federation, through Water and Power
Development Authority (Wapda), was fully empowered to take initiatives and
the provinces were allowed to execute power projects only up to 50
Megawatts. However, following the
18th Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan, the provinces are,
apparently, now vested with full authority to develop power projects of any
capacity through public or private sectors and establish the required
regulatory framework. Legally speaking, in the
past, Article 157(2) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan
granted the right to the provinces to establish power stations and construct
support infrastructure (grid-systems, transmission and distribution network
etc.) and even set the tariff for the electricity that is consumed within
the province. Provinces, de facto, gave up this right in the 1950s when
Wapda was the central authority. As a consequence of the
18th Amendment, the Concurrent List was abolished and Electricity was
shifted to Part II of the Federal Legislative list. This resulted in some
difference of opinion between the federal and the provincial entities about
the right and the mandate of the provinces with respect to electricity
generation. This difference of opinion on provincial mandate was referred to
the Council Of Common Interests, pursuant to Article 157 (3), by Punjab and
resolved in the CCI meeting of April 19, 2011, wherein provinces were given
complete authority to develop power projects of any capacity themselves or
through private sector. The CCI also decided that
any remaining ambiguities may be removed through necessary amendments in
NEPRA Act. As the gap increases
between power generation and its demand, the provinces have already moved
forward with plans. Almost all four provinces have created their separate
departments of energy in the past couple of years. “It is imperative that
the provinces start their own projects but this is neither easy nor an
overnight possibility,” says Syed Tanzeem Hussain Naqvi, former Member
(Power) Wapda. “There are many technical, financial and policy challenges
on the way.” He says the provinces need
resources and investors like China and World Bank, but these things are not
practically possible with the help or involvement of the government of
Pakistan. Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have a great deal of hydel resources
and they should pay attention to engaging the right experts with effective
and transparent management and execution policies. “It needs lot of
capacity building. We need a line of action on war-footing basis to get some
relief in the coming 4-6 years.” Provinces, apparently,
seem excited with their individual plans to generate power by alluring
foreign investors. Punjab, taking the lead, has gone as far as creating a
full-fledged energy department and creating Punjab Power Management Unit (PPMU)
to plan, procure and implement the ADB funded Renewable Energy Projects of
Punjab in the public sector. It has also established the Punjab Power
Development Board through an Act passed in 2011. The PPDB is supposed to
facilitate the private investors on behalf of the Punjab government in
matters related to the setting up of power projects in accordance with the
policy of the government; implement the policy of the Punjab government
relating to power generation and coordinate with various departments and
agencies of the government in the field of power generation; issue No
Objection Certificates, permission or license for use of canal or river
water or land of the government for power generation; and explore potential
sites for hydel and coal power. At present, there is a
demand-supply gap of about 4,000MW which is increasing at a rate of 6 per
cent per annum. Punjab with 68 per cent of the consumption of generated
power and gas is the worst affected and has to endure both power and gas
load shedding with adverse social and economic consequences. Punjab has so far planned
to generate 1393.85MW electricity (in coming years) mainly from hydel
sources while a few projects are based on solar, thermal, coal, bio gas, and
wind energy systems. In KP, the Energy and
Power Department was established in November 2008. Prior to this department,
the Power Sector was part of the Irrigation Department and was called
Irrigation and Power Department. KP plans to generate 1322MW electricity
costing (as of now) Rs222.096 in coming 10 years. Besides, most of these
projects are hydel. Korean Solar Energy
Company and the government of Balochistan signed an agreement a few days
ago. The Korean company shall build a 300MW power plant at the cost of $900
million in Quetta. Balochistan is the first province where solar energy
electricity plant is built. The province has a shortfall of 550MW at the
moment. With the implemention of this project, 300MW electricity would come
to the national grid and the shortage will be reduced by 50 per cent. “We
are focusing on alternative energy sources in our province,” says Hafiz
Abdul Basit, principal secretary to Chief Minister, Balochistan. “The plan
is to identify areas and include projects of solar and wind energy too.” Similarly, in the recent
past, a Thar coal-based 1,200MW project of Engro is expected to commence
operation by April 2013 in Sindh. SECMC is a joint venture between the
government of Sindh and Engro Powergen Limited, established in June 2009. “Provinces are free to
conceive and start their projects but there is a need for an institutional
approach to handle these projects,” says Lt Gen (r) Muhammad Zubair, Chief
Executive Officer, Neelum-Jhelum Project, commenting on the situation and
the provinces’ challenge of generating electricity after the 18th
Amendment. “Wapda took years to
acquire maturity in handling mega projects. It has that potential now,” he
adds. “But in provinces we hardly see any capacity or capability to
conceive, develop or execute mega power projects. There may be some capacity
in Punjab but it’s nothing close to Wapda’s which, supposedly, should be
dissolved after the 18th Amendment.” Challenges are high, he
says. “We need to develop a national approach to meet this crisis.
Besides, at the moment, there is a need to give the provinces a strict
deadline for their ongoing projects. Till they achieve their target, we
should ask Wapda to execute mega projects in a transparent way in order to
avoid conflict among the federating units. “Until the provinces
acquire technical potential, nothing positive will come about.” Zubair says his project
which is worth Rs 274.9 billion will add 969MW power in the system in the
near future. “We need a strong political will and a transparent execution
to counter all negative propaganda among the provinces.” vaqargillani@gmail.com
“We
could do well with importing electricity The News on
Sunday: What are some of the domestic reasons of the acute power shortage
which has become the bone of contention among the provinces? Suleman Najib Khan: When
there is poverty and misgovernance, this is bound to happen. More
misgovernance means more challenges, more mismanagement, more difficulties
and more threats. Today, we have the highest line losses to just cover the
theft. We have around 29 per cent average line losses which is perhaps the
highest in the world. Technical line losses must not be more than six per
cent. We lose much power in this way which further increases the poverty
circle and adds to the consumers’ frustration and mistrust. If we do not
use water, whatever the reason, we are in for very serious governance
problems. Water is our only natural endowment. And, for oil we have to spend
money which raises inflation and affects the economy badly. Unless new
technology comes in, we shall continue to suffer. TNS: How do you see the
grievances of the Punjab province in terms of getting its share of
electricity and load shedding? SNK: I have to say this is
unjustified. This is also mainly because of water distribution system. Only
one man from Sindh is controlling the whole water system. The entire Indus
River System Authority (IRSA) and Indus Water Commission strings are being
pulled from Sindh that does not allow its canals to be operated. Punjab cannot get its
share of water. Sindh wants to keep Mangla only for Punjab which is
inadequate for the province. Sindh has the upper hand today. Also, Punjab, through
Wapda, is being forced to give 700MW to Karachi Electricity Supply
Corporation (KESC), which is absolutely unfair. KESC is a private entity.
There is ten times more load shedding in Punjab compared to Sindh. Moreover, there are
hydropower sites in Punjab, but Punjab is not allowed to develop them
because of the water distribution system controlled by Sindh. Even Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
is not allowed to build dams. Punjab is getting much less share of water.
Also, naturally, when the population is huge and the demand is big, Punjab
will have to face more load shedding. Punjab is getting per capita
electricity less than it deserves. TNS: Do you think the
permission to generate electricity after 18th Amendment shall provide relief
to the provinces in the future? SNK: This is an important
issue, but the provinces may not be able to produce electricity in high
volumes. If you look closely into the 18th Amendment, you will come to know
that this is still a federal subject. Unless we build large dams we have no
hope. Let us be honest about it. Punjab’s is the worst case. If we are not going to
generate 30,000MW in the coming years, we will fail to meet the future
needs. We were told that we should achieve the 100,000MW target by 2030, but
it seems there is no way we can do that. We don’t have a resource base.
Wapda has been destroyed as a unitary group; it has no money or sources to
raise the money in the international financial market. Besides, Wapda cannot
execute any large project on its own, even though it is capable of it.
Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are also beginning to see the reality.
They know that oil is unaffordable and that we are destroying our gas
sources. They can think of hydro projects but for that water should be a
federal subject and if it is provincial it should be in public sector. Water
cannot be privatised. TNS: If you were to
suggest any long-term or short-term solutions to keep the federating units
intact while coping with this energy crisis, what would you say? SNK: Unfortunately, there
can be no short-term solution. It’s a huge infrastructural issue that
cannot be resolved in a couple of years. The only thing we can do is have an
equitable electricity distribution and load shedding. There is no other
solution. Even the import of
electricity from neighbours is not possible in the next two or three years.
However, we could do well with importing electricity through transmission
system instead of importing oil or using gas. And, we must also build our
large multi-purpose dams. If we do not go for that, the federation will
collapse under poverty and stress. If we are not able to generate low cost
power for our federating units, the energy crisis will destroy the country.
It is such a vital issue. My fear is that if we fail
to resolve the energy crisis in the next, say, four to five years, the
federation will cease to exist. The federating units will break away.
Industry has started shifting already. It will go to India, Bangladesh and
maybe Afghanistan. There will be brain drain and more poverty as youth
starts to leave the country. There will also be lot of crime. — Waqar Gillani
“The
solution is deregulation, The News on
Sunday: What, in your view, are the reasons for the country’s energy
crisis? Why have the governments failed to add to power generation? Dr Salman Shah: The crisis
has deepened over the last four years. Basically, Pakistan does not lack
power generation capacity as the installed capacity in the country exceeds
23,000MW. The average generation at any given time does not exceed 14,000MW.
The remaining capacity is unutilised due to a number of reasons: a)1,500 to
2,000MW is unutilised due to the non-availability of imported fuel based on
oil. This is due to the circular debt problem; b)poor maintenance and lack
of spare parts and down time contributes another 1,500MW; c)low level of
water in the dams reduces hydel power availability by 2,000MW in the lean
period; and, d)insufficient plants are too expensive to run. Having said that, the real
issue is not availability of capacity but the affordability of power based
on imported fuels. The imported energy costs around Rs15 to Rs20 per KWh
whereas the hydel power from dams can cost less than Rs2 per KWh. Indigenous
coal if available would cost Rs10 per KWh. The choice is clear but due to
poor leadership Pakistan is being deprived of cheap clean energy from hydel. TNS: How do you see the
present system of power generation, distribution and shutdown? SS: Well, the present
system is dominated by the Ministry of Water and Power, Wapda and Pepco.
This public-sector-dominated system has failed to deliver. Power sector
reforms based on deregulation and privatisation have to be introduced if
Pakistan wants to attract investment and modernization of the sector. This
reform is very doable. Many countries have done it and time is ripe to do it
in Pakistan. Without deregulation and privatization Pakistan will not be
able to get an efficient, competitive and affordable power system. The
perception of unjustified distribution amongst the provinces will continue
due to excessive role of the government in production, transmission and
distribution of power. The current stage of reform in power sector is
similar to the reform stage of the telecom sector 25 years ago only
deregulation, privatization and large scale induction in the telecom sector
resulted in the current competitive and cheap telephony services similar
reforms in the power sector are needed for competitive efficient and cheap
power availability in Pakistan. The reform programme has been derailed since
last four years. TNS: How do you evaluate
Punjab’s allegations of unequal power distribution? SS: As already stated,
as long as the sector is dominated by government these allegations would
continue to be there. TNS: After the 18th
Amendment, the provinces are free to generate power sources. Do you think
they are able to do this in terms of the main challenges of capacity
building, attracting investment, having right planning and policy making and
engaging professionals? SS: Pakistan needs to go
much further and facilitate the role of the private sector to make any
difference in the power shortages, line losses and nonpayment of bills. The
provincial governments have no capacity to step in the power sector to
alleviate the problems. TNS: Why has Pakistan
failed to pay attention to hydel power generation? SS: Pakistan has the
potential to produce 100,000MW of cheap (Rs2/unit) hydel power and also
earns carbon credits, whereas it has only created 6,500MW of hydel
facilities. This can be termed criminal neglect and the blame has to be laid
on the PPP and the ANP. These parties can help the leadership to make a
breakthrough that this country needs in this matter of life and death of the
masses. TNS: Are we heading
towards a solution? SS: Unfortunately, we are
going in circles and not resolving the issues. The solution is deregulation,
privatisation and focus on hydel power. TNS: What are the key
short-term and long-term actions which are required to meet the challenge? SS: Immediate reforms as
suggested above. Furthermore, introduction of a power market, opening up of
transmission facilities to all producers, controlling the losses and theft
is very important. Receivables from the public sector and resuming the
stalled privatisation programme are others factor that can help. — W. G.
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