Govt weighs reconstitution of Discos Boards of Directors to improve service delivery: Finance Minister

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb here on Tuesday recounted the structural reforms being undertaken in the power sector to improve its efficiency and service delivery, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The reforms included reconstitution of Boards of Directors of Discos by bringing in professionals from private sector and reducing the number of government nominees to bring in more efficiency in the boards and improve overall service delivery, he said.

The minister made these remarks during a meeting with Chairman Board of Directors K-Electric, Mark Skelton, which among others was attended by Javed Kureishi, Member Board of Directors KE, Mubasher H. Sheikh, Member Board of Directors KE, Moonis Alvi, CEO KE, Imran Qureshi, Chief Regulatory Affairs KE, M. Aamir Ghaziani, CFO KE and senior officials of the Finance Division.

The meeting was convened to exchange views around K-Electric’s plans for catering to growing energy demands of Karachi and the company’s transition to renewables to ensure affordable and sustainable energy for the residents of port city.

The KE team briefed the Minister regarding its plans to include renewable in its generation mix, with a view to lowering down the cost of electricity for Karachi. They also apprised the Minister of other initiatives being taken by KE for improved service delivery to residents of Karachi.

He reiterated the government’s resolve to ensure private sector participation in all government-owned discos and gencos and mentioned the start of process of privatizing of three discos in line with the Prime Minister’s vision to enable and facilitate the private sector to lead the economy.

The Minister also lauded the initiatives taken by K-Electric for further investment and expansion of its energy and distribution operations, and assured full support for its efforts to transition to renewables and production of cheaper and affordable energy through the use of domestic resources.

Meanwhile, Minister for Finance and Revenue said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had collected some Rs 1 billion by deducting Rs1 against each invoice in lieu off point of sale (POS) services fee. However, the FBR had utilized over Rs309 million of POS Fee collected for funding the IRS infrastructure development and welfare of IRS employees.

In his response to a question during the Senate session, the minister informed that the deduction was levied to incentivise the levy and rollout documentation which was discontinued but resumed at present. The work on POS policy under the strategy had to be done and would ensure incentivization, he added.

The Chair referred the matter to the Committee concerned for further deliberations on the matter. Finance Minister while replying another query said the federal government would continue its rationalisation regime under the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Act 2023 as most of the boards in the SOEs would be led by private sector with political appointees and government servants among others in the minority.

The SOEs Act in 2023 was enacted in line with the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act 2019, whereas the institutions that were not in the list of privatization comprised few institutions that were mostly training and research institutes, he added. The PFM Act 2019’s most of the part was transformed into the SOEs Act 2023, whereas the Cabinet Committee on SOEs decides strategic and essential SOEs’ privatisation, he informed. Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri raised the matter of decline in the share prices of a multinational company operating in the country.