Rs 205m funds go to 4 overlapped govt depts per annum

Volume 2, Issue 3
STAFF REPORT ISLAMABAD: This has sprung the concern of the many that four government institutions continue squandering monetary resources amounting to Rs 205 million every year, collected from tax payers of the country as they all do one similar job.

These departments include Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB), Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy (PCRET), Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP) and National Energy Conservation Centre.

“The said government departments are performing a similar function causing huge waste of government’s Rs 205 million funds in the wake of duplication of their work,” reveals a latest audit report of Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB).



According to details, the AEDB was allocated Rs 61.660 million in 2009-10, PCRET Rs 58 million, HDIP Rs 66 million and ENERCON over Rs 19 million.

“This is really painful to know that all the fours government departments are doing the same assignments under their mandates owing to which the massive liquidity of Rs 204.669 million is being spent annually,” a senior official at AEDB told this scribe on condition of anonymity. He further said: “This is the classic example of the bad governance.”

AEDB has been mandated that it would develop national strategies for utilization of alternative and renewable energy resources.

As a case study, the audit compared the projects undertaken by AEDB with projects undertaken by PCRET and identified the similarities in the nature of their projects. AEDB launched rural electrification through the usage of solar thermal power plants technologies and also through the solar home programme in each province while PCRET has also launched the electrification of remote coastal village using wind energy and solar energy.

Experts are of the opinion that the government should devise a strategy to assign these departments the tasks in a clear manner so that no function is over-lapped and national exchequer is saved.

http://www.technologytimes.pk/mag/2011/jan11/issue03/rs_205_funds_go_to.php