ISLAMABAD:The Northern Power Generation Company Limited (NPGCL) Techno Sahuwal on the order of Supreme Court on Tuesday finally submitted Rs 1.8 billion of advance payment with mark-up. A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, was hearing a suo motu case of the Rental Power Plants (RPPs) taken on the letter of Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, a leader Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid.Raja Anwarul Haq, counsel for the NPGCL, presented the certificate of the payment before the court. The company had received Rs780 million in 2008 from the government of Pakistan for rental power project but failed to generate the required power capacity despite the lapse of two years.
The counsel on Monday had presented a cheque of Rs 1.8 billin before the court, but the Chief Justice ordered the counsel to submit a pay order instead of the cheque.Raja told the court that it would take time to transfer the money, therefore, the court granted the company another day to submit the amount.The federal government had approved plans to set up rental power projects to generate 1,500 megawatts of electricity.It is pertinent to be mentioned here that Rs 18 billion were given to 9 rental power companies in advance. Out of these nine companies, four had returned the payments, including Messers Young Genco and Walters International, which had returned Rs1.26 billion and Rs2.5 billion respectively. The court observed that it means that Rs14 billion were given to five companies.The bench adjourned hearing till February 2 – Nation
