SC directs AG to arrange IPPs' payments
12 July, 2012
KARACHI: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has directed the Attorney General (AG) to inform the court by Friday as to when the payments will be made to the eight independent power producers (IPPs) that invoked sovereign guarantee for non-payment of Rs 61.401 billion at its due dates by National Transmission and Despatch Company.
KARACHI: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has directed the Attorney General (AG) to inform the court by Friday as to when the payments will be made to the eight independent power producers (IPPs) that invoked sovereign guarantee for non-payment of Rs 61.401 billion at its due dates by National Transmission and Despatch Company.
The SC heard the petitions of IPPs against the government of Pakistan due to continuous disregard of its obligation and inaction even several sovereign defaults have been occurred on the part of the government.
The three-member bench was headed by Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani. Other 2 members of the bench were Justice Saquib Nisaar and Justice Tariq Pervaz. The bench remarked that electricity is the need of every one and its non-availability hurts the common man through poor quality of life and increase in joblessness.
During the hearing, the AG accepted the liability of the government and NTDC but said that the amount payable to IPPs is less than it is claimed in the petitions. Moreover, he explained that there is an unrecoverable amount of Rs 10 billion every month from the consumers and Rs 67 billion is stuck due to different stay orders pending in high courts regarding fuel adjustment charges. The worthy bench commented that both reasons of non-payment are government issues and do not pertain to IPPs. Their due payments will be made so that they can continue to produce the much-needed electricity for the country. This is an urgent issue and should be settled without any loss of time.
Declaring the payment issue as of utter importance, AG has been given the time till Friday to inform when the payment will be made to IPPs for smooth supply of power to common man. The IPPs counsel requested the court to make the settlement agreement dated September 27 the order of the court for interim period. This settlement agreement was an interim solution agreed between the parties when the same situation rose in 2011, therefore it may be extended till the decision on the petition. The bench adjourned the proceeds till Friday (July 13, 2012).
The eight IPPs that earlier invoked the sovereign guarantee had filed the petition to initiate legal action domestically instead of approaching the international arbitrators. The petition filed by eight IPPs highlighted the failure of the government to make timely payments against the power supplied. The petitioners said that the power crisis in the country has worsened as they could not buy fuel to run their units because of huge default of Rs 61.401 billion by the government.
This amount includes the capacity payment of Rs 19.379 billion, energy payment Rs 37.846 billion, and other payments of Rs 4.176 billion. Those included in the petition are Liberty Tech, Orient Power, Atlas Power, Nishat Power, Nishat Chunian, Saif Power, Halmore Power, and Sapphire Electric for payment of the outstanding dues of Rs 11.131 billion, Rs 4.121 billion, Rs 10.478 billion, Rs 9.661 billion, Rs 10.899 billion, Rs 5.722 billion, Rs 2.415 billion and Rs 6.974 billion, respectively.
End. |
