PHC decision to help Pedo function smoothly

Akbar Ayub case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision to let Akbar Ayub, chief executive officer of the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo), continue working till the filing of an appeal in the Supreme Court on his eligibility for the post, would enable the entity to pursue uninterrupted its plans to exploit the untapped hydropower potential of the province.

The PHC had recently declared illegal the appointment of Akbar Ayub as chief executive officer (CEO) of Pedo and asked the provincial government to appoint someone else in his place in keeping with the law and merit.

However, a division bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Ijaz Anwar stopped implementation of the judgment till institution of an appeal against the decision in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Pedo has been aiming to achieve a turnaround over the last three years. The goal was to overhaul Pedo from a traditional public-sector organisation to a corporate entity.

The province has huge hydropower potential of around 30,000 MW or approximately 65-70 percent of untapped hydropower potential in the country. The organisation has been in existence for almost 31 years, but it put into operation 105 MW only through four projects. When the PTI-led coalition government came into power in 2013, it revamped the Pedo into a corporatised entity.

In February 2015 it hired the first CEO Akbar Ayub from the private sector and entrusted him the task of turning around the organisation to develop the power sector.

The Pedo has identified 29 hydropower projects with an investment of around $12 billion. It devised a strategy to develop these projects both in the public and private sectors.

Pedo is currently working on eight projects of 270 MW. This includes 56 MW projects initiated by the previous government and 214 MW by the incumbent government.

Moreover, Pedo has entered into collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through which the latter has agreed to provide funding for public sector projects to the tune of $2 billion. In the first phase, work on 300 MW Balakot project has been initiated. It would generate a total of 514 MW under various stages of development.

Besides medium and large hydropower projects, Pedo is also implementing a micro-hydel programme “Ujaloon Ka Safar”, the first of its kind through which the micro hydel projects (MHPs) are being handed over to communities for operation. In the first phase, a total of 356 MHPs are being implemented with a combined capacity of 35 MW.

Currently, projects of about 180 MHPs have been completed. The ADB has agreed to provide technical and financial support for the next phase in which the production would be increased to 1,000 MHPs benefitting approximately one million people.

About seven hydropower projects of 668 MW, which are likely to cost $2 billon, had been marketed for private sector investment and one project of 150 MW has been awarded and six are in the bidding stage. Another seven projects with total capacity of 87 MW have also been advertised with submission of proposals by the end of June.