Following a government assurance to clear at least Rs50 billion by end of this month, the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) on Thursday announced to “temporarily suspend” the operation of the sovereign guarantee call notices.
About 10 IPPs had served formal notices to the government and the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) to call Pakistan’s sovereign guarantees worth Rs26bn, owing allegedly to non-payment of Rs270bn worth of overdue audited bills by the power purchaser, NTDC.
Informed government sources said the IPPs took the decision after a meeting with top officials of the Ministry of Water and Power on Wednesday. These sources said Acting Secretary power Younas Dhaga assured the IPPs that the government was serious to address their grievances and gave a commitment to clear at least Rs50bn outstanding dues of the IPPs by end of this month.
These sources said the Mr Dhaga also gave an undertaking to the IPPs that all fixed outstanding dues as of Nov 30, 2014 would be cleared without any delay as per requirements of the power purchase agreement so that the IPPs could meet their cash flow needs and simultaneously reconcile bills relating to variable charges.
