NA panel backs Padhana grid station, questions Rs125m transfer
The power committee told HAZECO to prepare a separate funding case for the new Haripur station while an MNA sought a record check on the unfinished Sarai Saleh project.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Power Division on Thursday recommended a new 132 kV grid station at Padhana in Haripur in the public interest, and directed the authorities to prepare a case for additional funding and speed up the technical and administrative work.
The committee met at Parliament House under the chairmanship of MNA Muhammad Idrees and confirmed the minutes of its previous meeting, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The same sitting turned on the unfinished 132 kV grid station at Sarai Saleh in Haripur, where MNA Babar Nawaz Khan asked how the project could be reported as 80 percent complete without being completed. He raised questions about the feasibility study, the approval, the price paid for the land acquired, the money already spent, and where the equipment bought for the project is kept, Minute Mirror reported.
Khan also questioned a reported transfer of Rs125 million from PESCO to HAZECO and called for a detailed examination of the financial and technical record, saying responsibility should be fixed if irregularities are found and public money recovered where warranted.
The Power Division told the committee the Sarai Saleh station was planned in 2008 to replace the old 66 kV system, with the decision to build the grid station taken in 2020. Later technical assessments suggested that completing it might not be justified by the area's existing electricity demand, the division said.
The committee record does not establish that corruption or financial wrongdoing took place. It does record the demand for an investigation into possible irregularities.
On Padhana, the Power Division said the proposed station could not be completed within the existing budget and would need a separate request for funds. The Secretary Power Division said HAZECO would prepare the technical justification and submit it to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority for consideration. The committee directed HAZECO's chief executive to begin the follow-up work, including preparing the case for separate financing, and Khan said he would also make efforts to arrange additional resources.
Haripur residents' complaints of excessive load shedding, low voltage and dependence on the outdated 66 kV infrastructure were discussed at the meeting.
The committee also took up complaints from areas served by the Sukkur Electric Power Company. MNA Muhammad Shahryar Khan Mahar raised detection charges imposed on consumers, theft by small industrial units, theft of conductors and transformers, and delays in repair and rehabilitation work. The committee recommended that detection charges be imposed only on people found responsible under the applicable rules, and directed NEPRA and the Power Division to develop a system to prevent unjustified charges against consumers. SEPCO was told to investigate theft in Garhi Taseen, Madeji, Lakhi and Khanpur and to report at the next meeting on the incidents, the first information reports registered, the action taken and its prevention plans.
MNA Khurshid Ahmed Junejo raised load shedding and outages in Larkana, Kamber and Shahdadkot and the need for a 220 kV grid station in Larkana, along with replacing deteriorated conductors, installing power transformers and building new transmission lines. The committee directed SEPCO's chief executive to submit a complete report on the proposed projects and on measures to improve voltage and supply.
How the reports differ
APP led on the committee's recommendation for a new grid station at Padhana and carried the Haripur power complaints as its main thread. Minute Mirror led instead on MNA Babar Nawaz Khan's questions about the unfinished Sarai Saleh station and the reported Rs125 million transfer from PESCO to HAZECO, and placed the Padhana recommendation further down. Minute Mirror also carried the Power Division's statement that later technical assessments suggested completing Sarai Saleh might not be justified by existing demand, a point APP's published report did not reach, and added the committee's SEPCO and Larkana proceedings.
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