Privatisation will save Pakistan’s power sector, says Miftah Ismail

• Experts weigh in on Pakistan's power sector problems in webinar, 'Pakistan’s Power Policies — Ensuring Access and Affordability'
• Former finance minister Miftah Ismail says 12% of electricity consumers in Pakistan not even paying their bills
• World Bank energy specialist says overreaching influence of government and ministry creating problems for institutions such as Nepra

KARACHI: Former finance minister Miftah Ismail says the power sector in Pakistan should move towards privatisation to solve its long-standing issues.

Ismail said this during a webinar, 'Pakistan’s Power Policies — Ensuring Access and Affordability', in Karachi on Wednesday. 

When asked if it would be difficult to do so, the former finance minister said it was a challenge but needed to be done nonetheless. He highlighted how there has been a governance failure for the last 30 years or so in Pakistan.

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“We keep repeating the same things and hoping for better results but it won’t happen. So I believe we should move towards a multiple buyer and multiple seller system,” he said.

He said that in 2014-15, Nepra estimated the cost of installation of a gas plant at $700,000. “However, when we [the previous government] opened it up for bidding, the real figure came to around $550,000,” he said.

Ismail spoke about how the government was incapable of handing problems of the power sector, saying that 12% of the electricity consumers in Pakistan were not even paying their bills and then the tribal areas had their own set of problems when it came to power accessibility.

Saadia Qayyum, an energy specialist at the World Bank, said that Pakistan’s coal plants were quite expensive compared to India which made affordability an issue. She said that the overreaching influence of the government and the ministry was creating problems for institutions such as Nepra.

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“We need to strengthen NEPRA’s capability,” she said, adding that at times governments do not notify Nepra’s changes in tariffs due to political and other reasons.

SDPI Pakistan associate research fellow Hina Aslam stressed on the need for reforms in institutions to bring about much-needed changes in the way the power sector operates.