Federal Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has said that a new agreement is going to be signed with 53 independent power producers (IPPs) which will get approval from the cabinet in 10 days. The new agreement will benefit Rs 800 billion.
Speaking on a program on private News, the Federal Minister for Finance said that in the past energy deals were done in dollars, giving Rs 450 billion to IPPs in the form of previous bills. He said that Rs 450 billion would be given to IPPs in two installments, 40 per cent would be given immediately while the remaining 60 per cent would be given in August. The work of collection of distribution is being handed over to the private sector by closing down the old technology IPPs plant.
The Federal Minister of Finance said that the government is accused of taking more debt, the government took over the total debt was 25 thousand billion rupees, our government took a loan of 12 thousand billion rupees while 12 thousand to six thousand billion rupees in past interest. A package of Rs. 700 billion was given to the people during Korona. He said that the increase of Rs. 3,000 billion in debt was due to the rise in the value of the dollar.
Abdul Hafeez Sheikh further said that there is a lot of focus on the power sector for which steps are being taken. The impact of the measures taken on the energy sector will come in nine to 12 months.
