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KARACHI: Even as news of the Senate’s standing committee on water and power’s orders to arrest the CEO of KESC were rolling in, the utility’s stock was on the upward march at the Karachi Stock Exchange. The company’s announcement the previous day that it plans to invest another 400 million dollars into its business found many takers and the stock proved the second highest turnover leader – with 12.05 million traded – during Thursday’s trading session. It closed the session at Rs5.85 with a gain of 23 paisas.
Meanwhile, KESC has invited the Senate’s Standing Committee on Water and Power to visit its recently constructed power plants in Karachi and personally witness the unprecedented investment made into the company’s network in a short span of time.
While addressing a news conference here on Thursday, Ghufran Atta Khan, chief engagement officer of KESC, expressed hope that a detailed briefing over KESC’s achievements would help clarify the committee members’ reservations. “It will be an honour for us if the respectable senators on the committee accept our invitation. We believe that we can create a cordial atmosphere through dialogue and devise a better strategy to resolve the present energy crisis in the country,” he said. “We are already taking a number of steps to continuously improve our performance and we shall be very pleased to bring further improvement by working together with the government.”
Referring to the adverse remarks about the CEO of KESC from the Senate’s Standing Committee members over recent days, Khan said that KESC had great respect for all the institutions, including the Senate and its standing committees. KESC, being a private entity having huge investment from foreign stakeholders, fully honoured and abided by all the country’s laws “We are fully aware of our responsibilities and it is our top priority to fulfill our commitments. Besides, we also recognise the basic rights of our company and the individuals connected to it.”
Regarding the November 6 meeting of the Senate Standing Committee, Khan said that KESC had been asked to attend it and brief the participants in detail. The chief financial officer, company secretary and two directors of KESC appeared before the committee on that day with all the data and technical details. However, they were not allowed to speak. Instead, the committee insisted upon the appearance of the CEO of KESC in person. Another meeting of the committee was held on November 8 in which a KESC director participated and informed the meeting that he was fully authorised by the board of directors to represent the company and to provide answers to the committee’s questions. However, again he was stopped from speaking. On both occasions, the senior KESC officers faced untoward and non-professional treatment in the presence of media persons, which was condemnable.
Khan said that the committee’s insistence on the appearance of a particular person was quite meaningful. From KESC’s point of view, the committee simply needed proper replies to its questions, to which KESC had obliged. As per legal opinion, any duly authorised senior manager of the company could represent KESC before any governmental or elected committee. Despite that, sensational statements had been issued to media, which only meant to affect the reputation of KESC and its top management. “Some committee members tended to ignore the fact that the negative messages had failed to serve Karachi or Pakistan in any manner and such statements could rather adversely affect the investment potential, particularly the Rs40 billion investment plan that KESC had presented only a day earlier,” said Khan. The capital for this investment, he said, would obviously arrive from national and international institutions and this would be very unfortunate for the country if these negative statements discouraged the potential investors.
According to Khan, KESC has been the only organisation in the power sector that has amplified the company’s capabilities through huge investment of $1 billion. Due to this, KESC’s performance has proved to be much better than other entities in the country, he added.
“Over the past four years, national and international banks and financial institutions, including International Financial Corporation, Asian Development Bank and Oesterreichische Kontrol Bank have expressed full confidence in KESC,” he said.
Through this confidence from its shareholders and financial institutions, KESC has been able to add 1,000 megawatts of electricity generation into its network, he added. “However, we understand that the journey of progress and moving forward still continues and that we have a long way to go.”
Ghufran said that KESC has presented an investment plan worth Rs40 billion aimed at improving the company’s performance, increasing electricity production and bringing down the cost of power generation.
KESC is an independent private entity and the management is responsible to its board of directors on all the related matters.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan recently declared that KESC, after its privatisation is having ownership of 73 percent fully paid up shares with foreign investors since November 11, 2005, does not fall into the definition of an agency, which only means a ministry, division, department, or office of the federal government or a statutory corporation or other institution established or controlled by the federal government. The order further said that KESC has its board of directors to run its affairs.
Meanwhile, KESC has invited the Senate’s Standing Committee on Water and Power to visit its recently constructed power plants in Karachi and personally witness the unprecedented investment made into the company’s network in a short span of time.
While addressing a news conference here on Thursday, Ghufran Atta Khan, chief engagement officer of KESC, expressed hope that a detailed briefing over KESC’s achievements would help clarify the committee members’ reservations. “It will be an honour for us if the respectable senators on the committee accept our invitation. We believe that we can create a cordial atmosphere through dialogue and devise a better strategy to resolve the present energy crisis in the country,” he said. “We are already taking a number of steps to continuously improve our performance and we shall be very pleased to bring further improvement by working together with the government.”
Referring to the adverse remarks about the CEO of KESC from the Senate’s Standing Committee members over recent days, Khan said that KESC had great respect for all the institutions, including the Senate and its standing committees. KESC, being a private entity having huge investment from foreign stakeholders, fully honoured and abided by all the country’s laws “We are fully aware of our responsibilities and it is our top priority to fulfill our commitments. Besides, we also recognise the basic rights of our company and the individuals connected to it.”
Regarding the November 6 meeting of the Senate Standing Committee, Khan said that KESC had been asked to attend it and brief the participants in detail. The chief financial officer, company secretary and two directors of KESC appeared before the committee on that day with all the data and technical details. However, they were not allowed to speak. Instead, the committee insisted upon the appearance of the CEO of KESC in person. Another meeting of the committee was held on November 8 in which a KESC director participated and informed the meeting that he was fully authorised by the board of directors to represent the company and to provide answers to the committee’s questions. However, again he was stopped from speaking. On both occasions, the senior KESC officers faced untoward and non-professional treatment in the presence of media persons, which was condemnable.
Khan said that the committee’s insistence on the appearance of a particular person was quite meaningful. From KESC’s point of view, the committee simply needed proper replies to its questions, to which KESC had obliged. As per legal opinion, any duly authorised senior manager of the company could represent KESC before any governmental or elected committee. Despite that, sensational statements had been issued to media, which only meant to affect the reputation of KESC and its top management. “Some committee members tended to ignore the fact that the negative messages had failed to serve Karachi or Pakistan in any manner and such statements could rather adversely affect the investment potential, particularly the Rs40 billion investment plan that KESC had presented only a day earlier,” said Khan. The capital for this investment, he said, would obviously arrive from national and international institutions and this would be very unfortunate for the country if these negative statements discouraged the potential investors.
According to Khan, KESC has been the only organisation in the power sector that has amplified the company’s capabilities through huge investment of $1 billion. Due to this, KESC’s performance has proved to be much better than other entities in the country, he added.
“Over the past four years, national and international banks and financial institutions, including International Financial Corporation, Asian Development Bank and Oesterreichische Kontrol Bank have expressed full confidence in KESC,” he said.
Through this confidence from its shareholders and financial institutions, KESC has been able to add 1,000 megawatts of electricity generation into its network, he added. “However, we understand that the journey of progress and moving forward still continues and that we have a long way to go.”
Ghufran said that KESC has presented an investment plan worth Rs40 billion aimed at improving the company’s performance, increasing electricity production and bringing down the cost of power generation.
KESC is an independent private entity and the management is responsible to its board of directors on all the related matters.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan recently declared that KESC, after its privatisation is having ownership of 73 percent fully paid up shares with foreign investors since November 11, 2005, does not fall into the definition of an agency, which only means a ministry, division, department, or office of the federal government or a statutory corporation or other institution established or controlled by the federal government. The order further said that KESC has its board of directors to run its affairs.
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