ISLAMABAD: Chairman NEPRA Tauseef H. Farooqui has said that for the development of Pakistan, the government has to restore its writ. Government effectiveness is the first step for the development of Pakistan. A consumer who does not pay the electricity bill should be disconnected immediately. Targeted subsidy relief should be provided to poor people. The production of electricity in the country has reached 43 thousand megawatts, which is a record.
He expressed these views while talking to the president of the chamber, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, on the occasion of his visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Chairman NEPRA said that everyone is proud of stealing electricity in our country, 600 billion rupees are the dues of electricity consumers.
The government should immediately disconnect the consumer who does not pay the electricity bill. For this, help can be taken from law enforcement agencies. He said that the government can control the deficit by introducing fixed bills and smart meters.
For this, such a system should be introduced as the competition of mobile companies in the telecom sector. Among the companies installing smart meters, the tariff rate will be lower, people will install the meter from it. In response to a question, he said that the factories which are closed should disconnect their connections if they want. There is no charge for re-establishing the connection when the factory is up and running.
Chairman Nepra said that we have made regulations, if the government makes rules and implements them, many problems can be solved. The financial crisis of the electricity sector has become severe, if the distribution companies do not fulfill their duty, no one will be able to save it from drowning. If the prices of oil, gas and the dollar had not gone up, our problems would have been greatly reduced today.
On this occasion, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari said that Islamabad Chamber is a representative body of the business community and it should be represented in the board of Nepra. There should be a single window system to resolve the issues faced by the business community. Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari said that Gilgit-Baltistan is a region rich in mineral and water resources, there is a capacity to generate 40,000 megawatts of electricity.
By investing in these water resources, we can get the country out of economic problems by generating electricity. He said that the International Tourism Summit in Skardu will help bring the resources of this area to the world. On this occasion, President Islamabad Chamber invited Chairman Nepra to participate in the summit, which he accepted. Former President ICCI Zafar Bakhtawari, Senior Vice President Faad Waheed, Khalid Chaudhry, Malik Shabbir, Maqsood Tabish, Usman Khalid and others were also present in the meeting.
