Cabinet green-lights Sindh Electric Power Regulatory Authority

A meeting of the provincial cabinet at the Chief Minister House on Wednesday approved setting up the Sindh Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Sepra) to improve energy equity and eliminate energy poverty in the province.

CM Syed Murad Ali Shah, who chaired the meeting of the advisory group, termed the decision a historic step towards power generation, transmission and distribution.

Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh told the meeting that Sindh is blessed with an entire value chain of energy resources like coal, solar and wind energy among other things, with cost-effective access through air, land and sea routes.

Shaikh said that these resources can be used to generate electricity wheeled through the transmission network of the Sindh Grid Company to meet the demand of household, commercial and industrial consumers of the province at affordable prices.

He said that this step would resolve the issue of constraints faced by the provincial power projects, especially the renewable energy projects within the national framework, in terms of non-inclusion in the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan 2021, and lack of further processing by the federal entities.

The CM said that it is imperative that a holistic legal, policy and regulatory framework for power generation, transmission, distribution and regulation is formulated so that energy equity is improved and energy poverty is eliminated in the province.

The cabinet was told that Section (7)(4) of the Nepra Act 1997 allows the provinces to construct power houses and grid stations, and lay transmission lines for use within the province, and determine the tariff for distributing electricity within the province. After a thorough discussion, the meeting approved setting up Sepra.

Red Line project

Transport Minister Sharjeel Memon told the meeting that the Red Line bus rapid transit (BRT) project is being implemented in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank at a cost of $503.2 million. He said that TransKarachi is an implementing agency for this project.

The BRT project corridor passes through the city’s urban areas from the Malir Halt to the Tower via the Malir Cantonment, Safoora, University Road and Numaish. The land of the Aladin Park near the Mosamiyat Depot has been identified to be used as the project’s bus depot.

On the request of the transport department, the cabinet approved the proposal to provide 16 acres of the Aladin Park to the department to develop it as a bus depot or staging facility. The features of the bus depot include a bus parking facility, a bus inspection area, a filling station, a workshop, offices, a bus wash and service, watchtowers, security, main entry gates, a water recycling plant and a fire pump room.

The cabinet also directed the transport department to take over the land of the slaughterhouse to establish a biogas plant for the Red Line project.

Minimum wage

On the proposal of Labour Minister Saeed Ghani, the cabinet approved fixing the minimum wage for three categories of skilled workers employed in 42 industries. The new rates — Rs26,000 for semi-skilled workers, Rs31,961 for skilled workers and Rs33,491 for highly skilled workers — would take retroactive effect from January 2023.

Data sharing

Revenue Minister Makhdoom Mahboob told the cabinet that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) intends to sign a bilateral agreement for data sharing with the Sindh Board of Revenue.

Mahboob said the FBR wishes to develop an effective mechanism for the exchange of information between different public sector organisations for optimum revenue generation under the World Bank’s Pakistan Raises Revenue programme. Since the agreement was signed with the FBR on April 6, the cabinet granted retrospective approval.