1 (9th Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT ————— “QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES” to be asked at a sitting of the National Assembly to be held on Wednesday, the 26th February, 2014 (Originally Starred Question Nos. 63, 236, 355, 242, 363, 373, 92, 93, 94, 95, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 109, 111, 113, 114, 120, 122, 168 and 174 were set down for answer during the 8th Session) 63. *Shehryar Afridi: Will the Minister for Water and Power be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that circular debt is surging again; (b) if so, the steps being taken by the Government to combat the said problem? Minister for Water and Power (Khawaja Muhammad Asif): (a) Surge in circular debt takes place mainly due to non-availability of required funds to pay off the liabilities of Power generators. Circular debt re-emerges due to short remittance by DISCOs in the wake of less recovery and sort release of subsidy by Government of Pakistan. Moreover, heavy mounts have been stuck up with AJ&K and all provincial Governments manly due to non-implementation of policy decisions. The strength of Power Sector mainly depends upon the behavior of all the stake holders to meet their obligations relating to clear the liabilities of Power Sector alongwith the provision of administrative support. Disturbance in the Power system due to non-availability of Finance will definitely have economic implications for the provinces. Smooth flow of Power according to energy need of the provinces would lead to economic development which is ultimate objective of the Government. 2 (b) The strength of Power Sector mainly depends upon the behavior of all the stake holders to meet their obligations relating to clear the liabilities of Power Sector along with provision of administrative support. Disturbance in the Power system due to non-availability of Finance will definitely have economic implications for the provinces. Smooth flow of Power according to energy need of the provinces would lead to economic development which is ultimate objective of the Government. Elimination of circular debt depends upon the implementation of policy decisions regarding resolution of aforesaid issues. 236. *Jamshed Ahmad: Will the Minister for Water and Power be pleased to state whether it is fact that the audit of payments made to the NEPRA has not been conducted during the last five years; if so, the reasons thereof? Minister for Water and Power (Khawaja Muhammad Asif): NEPRA is a quasi-judicial autonomous body. It generates its own funds and does not obtain any kind of financial support from Government of Pakistan. NEPRA’s financial accounts are duly prepared and audited by the independent auditors firm. Further, it is also subject to Federal Audit conducted by Auditor General of Pakistan. 355. *Munaza Hassan: Will the Minister for Water and Power be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that the reservoirs of potable water are depleting at fast pace in the country; (b) whether it is also a fact that no comprehensive policy/planning has been formulated to control the shortage of potable water at national level; and (c) the steps being taken by the Government to preserve the said reservoirs? Minister for Water and Power (Khawaja Muhammad Asif): (a) Loss in storage capacity of reservoirs due to sedimentation is a natural phenomenon. The major reservoirs have lost almost 28% of their gross storage capacity by the end of year 2013(Annex-I). 3 Construction of new reservoirs would supplement this loss. WAPDA is undertaking several projects which are at various stages of implementation to mitigate the adverse effects of storage loss. (b), (c) WAPDA has been vigilantly looking after the water scarcity issue in the country. Addition of 2.88 MAF to the existing capacity of Mangla Dam Project is a step in this direction. Similarly Gomal Zam Dam and Darawat Dam Projects have added another 1.0 MAF to the storage capability of the country. There are several other small, medium and large multipurpose projects which are at different stages of execution (list attached at Annex-II). (Annexures have been placed in the National Assembly Library) 242. *Dr. Nisar Ahmad Jatt: Will the Minister for Water and Power be pleased to state the month- wise progress made through the measures taken by the Government to control/reduce the difference between cost of the generation of electricity and determination of tariff since April, 2013 till date? Minister for Water and Power (Khawaja Muhammad Asif): NEPRA determines the tariff based on cost of supply of each corporate entity. The tariff determined by NEPRA is charged to consumers after its notification by Government of Pakistan. Government however notifies less tariff than the tariff determined by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority. The difference between NEPRA determined and Government of Pakistan notified tariff is being paid by the Government as tariff differential subsidy. No Government can provide subsidy for idefinite period as provision of huge subsidy hampers the economic development of country. So, Government has increased consumer end tariff. The detail of tariff determined by NEPRA and notified by Government of Pakistan since April 2013 is as follows: ——————————————————————————————————————————— Tariff NEPRA Government of Difference Effective Determined Pakistan Notified Rs.kwh Tariff Rs./kwh Tariff Rs./kwh ——————————————————————————————————————————— 01-07-2012 14.66 8.78 5.88 05-08-2013 14.66 10.95 3.71 01-10-2013 14.66 11.67 2.99 ——————————————————————————————————————————— 4 The detail of subsidy paid by the Government since April 2013 is as follows: —————————————————————————————— Month Tariff Subsidy Rs. Million —————————————————————————————— April 2013 23,839 May 2013 27,217 June 2013 31,928 July 2013 35,686 August 2013 35,324 September 2013 28,903 October 2013 22,377 November 2013 16,088 —————————————————————————————— Total 221,362 —————————————————————————————— In addition to provision of subsidy to masses, Government has been making efforts to control/reduce the difference between cost of the generation of electricity and determination of tariff for which following medium/long term efforts are being made. - Installation of Hydel Power Plants. - Conversion of existing oil based Power plants to coal based plants. - Increase inefficiency of existing Power plants. - Establishing the new coal based Power plants. This Ministry assure that materialization of such efforts will bridge the gap between cost of supply and consumer end tariff. 363. *Tahira Aurangzeb: Will the Minister for Water and Power be pleased to state: (a) the reasons for not eliminating loadshedding in the country from 2008 to 2013 by the Government; (b) the responsibles therefor? 5 Minister for Water and Power (Khawaja Muhammad Asif): (a) The main reasons, for not eliminating loadshedding in the country from 2008-2013 are:— • Unprecedented increase in electricity demand by domestic and commercial consumers due to change in socio economic environment of the country. • Water indents/releases are allocated by Indus River System Authority, according to the agricultural demand of the provinces. Furthermore, the low level of Tarbela and Mangla Reservoirs results in low generating capacity for the same water discharge as compared to generating capacity at higher reservoir level, resultantly forced outage of generating units. • Insufficient supply of gas to Thermal Power Plants of GENCOs and IPPs from SNGPL/SSGC due to increased demand of gas by Domestic, Commercial, CNG, Fertilizer and industrial sectors. • Insufficient and irregular supply of furnace oil (HSFO/LSFO) to GENCOs and IPPs Power Plants by PSO due to less availability of product, logistic problems and especially payment issues on account of circular debt. • Frequent Forced outages of mechines on different Maintenance schedules. • Derating of old and outlived machines of GENCOs. (b) The Load shedding in the country from 2008 to 2013 could not he eliminated due to the above mentioned reasons. 373. *Syed Asif Hasnain: Will the Minister for Water and Power be pleased to state: (a) the total outstanding amount of circular debt of IPPs for the current year; and (b) the time by which said amount will be paid to 1PPs? 6 Minister for Water and Power (Khawaja Muhammad Asif): (a) The total outstanding amount of circular debt of IPPs for the current year upto 31-01-2014 is Rs. 173 billion. (b) Existence of receivables / payables is a regular feature of each business concern and always remains in books of accounts. There is no issue of circular debt at present in Power Sector. Power Sector payables as on 31-01-2014 were Rs. 246 billion where as its receivables from consumers were Rs. 491 billion. Majority of the receivables are from Private consumers Rs. 326 billion, from Government (federal provincial) Rs. 125 billion and from KESC Rs. 41 billion (without markup). As a business norm payables must be paid when they become due, however, low recovery and pilling up of receivables are major implement in the way. 92. *Lal Chand: Will the Minister for Water and Power be pleased to state: (a) the year-wise details of water released down stream from Kotri Barrage during the last five years; and (b) the required water in million acre feet to be released therefrom under water accord 1991? Minister for Water and Power (Khawaja Muhammad Asif): (a) The water escaped below Kotri Barrage during the last five year 2008-09 to 2012- 13 is given as under:— Million Acre Feet (MAF) —————————————————————————————— 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 —————————————————————————————— 5.82 4.06 54.51 14.24 6.01 —————————————————————————————— The Water Accord 1991 stipulates under para-7 as given below:— “The need for minimum escapage to sea, below Kotri, to check sea intrusion was recognized. Sindh held the view, that the optimum level was 10 MAF, which was discussed at length, while other studies indicated lower/higher figures.