Sharif appoints Iqbal as special assistant on energy — Dawn
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appointed retired Lieutenant General Muhammad Zafar Iqbal as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Energy. He will oversee the Power and Petroleum Divisions of the Ministry of Energy.
As Dawn reports, the appointment took effect immediately. According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, Iqbal will hold the status of a minister of state, while the Cabinet Division has been instructed to take the necessary further action.
Energy powers
Before the new appointment, Iqbal was already overseeing both divisions as chairman of the National Coordination and Management Council. The special body was established in April to replace the National Price Coordination Committee, which was headed by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.
The council handles imports of crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas. It is also responsible for exports of petroleum products, including fuel oil, and for setting priorities for electricity generation.
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The Power and Petroleum Divisions of the Ministry of Energy are simultaneously headed by federal ministers Sardar Awais Khan Leghari and Ali Pervaiz Malik, respectively.
Iqbal’s previous work
Earlier, Iqbal led negotiations on revising the terms of contracts with private and state-owned power producers as part of the national energy task force. Muhammad Ali, who is now the prime minister’s adviser on privatization, was also a member of the task force.
Subsequently, Iqbal held talks with commercial banks on loans worth 1.225 trillion Pakistani rupees to settle debts owed to independent power producers. The payments were planned to be financed from around 4 trillion rupees in savings projected over the 30-year duration of the projects.
According to the publication, the contract revision was expected to reduce the consumer tariff by 33 paisa per unit of electricity. The loans also provide for a debt servicing surcharge of 3.23 rupees per unit of electricity for six years.
