wiredinUSA March 2013

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Picture : Alessandro Paiva

China refuses power investment for Azad Kashmir

ASIA & AFRICA NEWS

realized that once the project was lost, it would not be taken up again for at least 15 years, which was “unaffordable.” The committee expressed concern over an increase in power tariff for distribution companies, saying that the authority was mandated to safeguard consumers’ interest, but that increasing the tariff would “add to the miseries of the common man.” The committee also expressed annoyance over fluctuations in the power tariff determined by Nepra, and directed the authority to submit a report regarding tariff variability during the past year; also asking if any relief had been given to the people.

In a briefing by Pakistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to the senate’s standing committee on water and power, an official explained that the Chinese government has refused to allow China’s Three Gorges Company to invest in power projects in Azad Kashmir, citing the area’s disputed status. During the briefing, Nepra member Khwaja Mohammad Naeem said that the Chinese company was also putting pressure on Nepra to increase the tariff for the Karoot power project, but that as the tariff increase did not fall under the domain of Nepra it could not be addressed. He added that the authority was negotiating because it

ASIA / AFRICA NEWS

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