Pakistan’s National Task Force on Energy and Power Minister Awais Leghari’s decision to consolidate outdated state-owned generation companies into the National Power Parks Management Company is being met with opposition within the power bureaucracy. A report from Business Recorder revealed that despite these entities serving little practical purpose beyond maintaining bureaucratic hierarchies, the task force’s directive has not been implemented.
The task force proposed merging four GENCOs – Jamshoro, Guddu, Nandipur, and Lakhra – along with their parent company, Genco Holding Company Limited. The recommendation was based on the argument that the plants operated by these companies have either been closed or auctioned, rendering the entities as mere administrative shells. Following the closure of plants, hundreds of employees have been temporarily reassigned to distribution companies, rendering these entities obsolete.
The report highlighted that the aging plants of these companies have been shut down or are in the process of being disposed of due to years of low efficiency, high operating costs, and consistently poor performance. Despite this, board members of these entities continue to convene frequent meetings and receive significant sitting fees and allowances, leading them to resist any change that would disrupt the status quo.
Experts cited in the report noted that the resistance to such reforms reflects a broader trend in Pakistan’s bureaucracy, where institutional interests often hinder reform initiatives that challenge established privileges. They emphasized that Pakistan’s bureaucracy has perfected the art of resisting change, prioritizing institutional turf and bureaucratic prerogatives over much-needed efficiency and accountability.
