Govt not considering takeover of K-Electric: Khawaja Asif

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif on Monday said that the government was not considering any proposal to take over K-Electric.

Asif's words contradicted a statement by State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali, who had said earlier today that the government may take over the private power distribution company if "if need be or situation doesn’t improve".

But, speaking to Geo News anchorperson Shahzeb Khanzada, Asif clarified that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) federal government was not planning any takeover despite widespread outages in Karachi in the sweltering summer heat.

"No such proposal is under consideration and neither does the government want to consider any such option. This is not our policy. We have a policy of privatisation, and we'll pursue that policy. We'll pursue that policy very vigorously," he said.

But, while the water and power minister apparently attempted to address the concerns of foreign investors, he also urged the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to intervene instead.

"Where there is privatisation, the regulator also needs to intervene. We (the government) are only 26 percent shareholders and we can only partially intervene and not effectively. NEPRA needs to intervene considering the situation in Karachi," he said.

Unannounced load-shedding and power outages in Karachi continued on Monday as the three-day death toll from heatstroke and heat-related symptoms topped 350, with citizens of the metropolis bracing the hottest summer in decades.

In 2005 the government privatized K-Electric, then known as the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), and a five-year agreement for purchase of 650MegaWatts of low-cost power from the federal government expired last year.
The federal government claims the private firm is legally bound to produce its own power to meet rising electricity demand, which has led to hours of unannounced blackouts in the city.