Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sacked the boards of eight out of 10 power distribution companies in the country for “poor governance, performance, and service delivery.” Not only that, but going a step further to silence his detractors, Sharif has decided to give a supervisory role to the Army and intelligence agencies in all power distribution companies. Henceforth, Sector Commander of the Army, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI), and Intelligence Bureau officers will be co-opted into these boards.
Interestingly, PM Sharif chose not to bite the bullet in the case of the boards of Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) and Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) in Sindh. It may be mentioned that the Sindh province is ruled by the PPP which is supporting Sharif’s PML-N government from outside. As such, the members of the boards of these companies are people whom Sharif does not dare to touch as they are nominees of the PPP.
The total loss incurred by the 10 distribution companies has been put at Rs 589 billion for this fiscal year. The performance of SEPCO and HESCO is no different from eight others, as they are projected to incur Rs59 billion and Rs53 billion losses, respectively. However, Sharif has decided to keep his hands off these companies as he can’t afford to annoy PPP.
These boards were appointed by Sharif himself between July and November 2022 when he led a Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government. Most members of the boards were politicians and their relatives from parties like PPP of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and others. Many of them contested elections in February this year to national and provincial assemblies and got elected. The Sharif government holding these boards accountable for “poor governance, performance, and service delivery” is nothing but misleading the masses.
Besides appointing professionals from the field of power, the government has also decided to set up Distribution Companies Support Unit (DCSU) to address problems of the power sector. The Army, ISI, MI and IB officers will henceforth have supervisory roles in the power supply companies. The first DSU will be set up in the Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO), as per the decision taken on Monday (May 21), according to reports in Pakistan media.
The power supply companies of Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, Quetta, Peshawar and Tribal Areas will now have new governing boards. It is being said that the Energy Ministry had recommended reconstituting the boards of Hyderabad and Sukkur also, but Sharif deftly sidelined the suggestion. So far, the PPP has not said anything publicly about their nominees being given a special treatment by the Sharif dispensation.
The decision regarding the sacking of boards of power supply companies was initiated in the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (CCOSOEs) headed by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar. The appointment of independent directors for power distribution companies is aimed at turning these loss-making government companies around. The Dar-led committee is the final authority regarding the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and will take a decision regarding at least 40 such entities.
Out of the seven SOEs for which privatisation was being proposed by the Finance Ministry headed by Mohammad Aurangzeb, three have been declared strategic assets. Pakistan Television (PTV) and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) are among the companies that will not be privatised.
Pakistan Railways Freight Transportation Company, Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services, and Railway Construction Pakistan Limited will now be privatised after being classified as non-strategic. The Ministry of Railways had given a proposal to designate these four companies as strategic and essential, but it has been rejected. The proposal for the privatisation of the Science & Technology Department has been put on hold.
