Karachi, December 19, 2014: K-Electric has expressed its dismay at the allegations levelled against the company by the Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif, which it described as “baseless and clearly untrue.”
While KE is receiving 650MW from the national grid through NTDC based on an agreement which is also in place between GOP and regional power distributors for power supply, KE was fully compliant with its obligations under the same and had paid Rs. 278 Billion to NTDC over the past five years as well as adjusted Rs. 29 Billion of arrears pending in 2008.
According to KE’s spokesperson, “Over the past several years, KE has invested over $1 billion for boosting its generation, transmission and distribution network. Furthermore, we will invest an additional $2 billion to enhance our capacity to serve Karachi. KE maintained that its privatization took place in accordance with all applicable laws and all relevant approvals were in place from the ECC, Cabinet and CCI. KE denied rumours that there is any move to transfer a strategic stake in KE to any Korean entity. KE is considered to be a pioneering corporate organization as through our various policy initiatives, we have made a substantial contribution in countering the power crisis in Pakistan which has been recognized by international and independent organizations such as IFC, Financial Times as well as the State Bank of Pakistan.
KE’s spokesperson said that since the past three years KE is upto date on all monthly bills of SSGC as per the mutually agreed Payment Plan. He added that in the past 30 months, KE had paid Rs.93.5 Billion in respect of current bills as well as an additional amount of Rs. 6.4 billion to adjust past outstandings. He said that on the other hand, KE was owed more than Rs. 111 billion by several federal and provincial government organizations, most noteworthy of which is KWSB where Rs. 33.8 Billion is outstanding till date.
He said that KE was performing far better in comparison to state-run power suppliers elsewhere in the country and as a result of company’s effective policies and performance, Karachi has become the only city in Pakistan where all 5 industrial zones as well as 58 percent of the city is exempted from load-shedding.
At a time when the government and the Prime Minister was seeking to expand foreign investment in the power sector and privatise other state run power suppliers, no government representative should be seen to be undermining such efforts through baseless allegations against KE which is a successful international symbol of privatisation for Pakistan.