Following a government assurance to clear the billion rupees outstanding dues till June, the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have withdrawn their call for a sovereign guarantee, it was learnt on Thursday.
“As a show of good faith, the IPPs are postponing their GoP Guarantee call of March 16, 2017, to a date 10 days later. Now it is up to GoP/NTDC (National Transmission and Despatch Company) to follow,” said Independent Power Producers’ Advisory Council (IPPAC).
IPPAC also said that IPPs met NTDC/PPIB once and while no commitment to the two rightful demands has been made by GoP representatives, the dialogue will likely continue.
“IPPAC members are hopeful that if the GoP/NTDC are sincerely looking to resolve the issues, and start following the agreements, an acceptable resolution to the payment issues can be found,” IPPAC said. It added that IPPs have only asked for two things: (a) the GoP needs to put forward an acceptable plan for clearing all payables and (b) NTDC/CPPA needs to follow the contracts and stop violating other contractual provisions.
On February 15, 2017, the total verified and audited amounts overdue to power sector (excel WAPDA hydel) stood at PKR 414 billion, with IPPs being PKR 254 billion of it. Similarly, on March 10, 2017, the verified and audited overdue amount of IPPs was PKR 245 billion. As of today, a GoP Guarantee call of over PKR 35 billion is outstanding, IPPAC said.
Informed government sources said the IPPs took the decision after a meeting with the top officials of the Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Water and Power. They said that the finance ministry has assured the IPPs regarding clearance of their pending billion rupees dues. The ministry has informed the IPPs that financial health of the national exchequer does not permit it to clear the dues at once. Outstanding dues of IPPs are likely to be cleared by June, sources said.
Earlier, IPPs called for a sovereign guarantee to recover outstanding Rs48billion dues pending with the government, and a served notice to the Pakistan Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB). National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) also has to pay Rs48 billion to the IPPs which has already been audited.
According to details, the outstanding amount of Pakgen Power is Rs7.77b, Liberty Power Rs5.36 b, HUBCO Narowal Rs5.02 b, Nishat Power Rs 4.88 b, Atlas Power and Lalpir Rs4.55 b. Similarly, the government has to pay Rs4.45b of Attock Gen, Rs2.3b of Kohinoor Energy, Rs8.8b of Halmore Power, Saif power Rs1.5 bln, Saphire Electrics Rs1.4 b, and Orient Rs1.18b.
It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government was applauded for clearing Rs480b circular debt when it came to power in 2013. However, it once again faces the same ghost of a circular debt, increasing with each passing day.
