"I do not know how he managed to grab this position, as we did not send any summary for his appointment," said Additional Secretary, Water and Power Ministry, Zarar Aslam, showing utter astonishment, when he was apprised by the Ministry's staff about the replacement of Fazal by Cheema. Ministry's top bureaucracy is making conflicting claims in the surprise appointment of the new Pepco chief.
Talking to Business Recorder, one official said that the appointment of Cheema has been made by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, while another official said that the Minister for Water and Power, Pervez Asharaf, was on board but not the Secretary, Shahid Rafi.
Yet another official said that the appointment has been made to fulfil one of the preconditions of Asian Development Bank (ADB) for $220 million loan, for which negotiations are about to start shortly.
Official documents available with this scribe suggest that ADB had warned the government in December 2008 that the second tranche of $200 million Power Transmission Enhancement Investment Program would remain on hold till the Secretary Water and Power and the Member Power of Pepco were serving members of the Board of Directors (BoD) of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC).
The ADB had cited the failure to meet the condition (Article VI) section 6.01-a) as contained in the loan agreement as the reasons for the decision to put on hold. Sources said that Tahir Basharat Cheema also met the Prime Minister on Saturday in Islamabad wherein he was intimated that he was being promoted as Pepco MD.
He, however, kept this development top secret, which could be proved from the fact that when an official of the concerned Ministry made a phone call to congratulate him after watching the ticker on the private television channels that Prime Minister had appointed Cheema as Pepco MD, he responded the call in a way as if he was totally unaware of this information.
"Really? I do not know about this development; you pray for me," he said. Cheema's appointment as head of the power sector has been made at a time when the country is passing through the worst ever power crisis, expected to continue till December 2009. He had to meet textile sector's representatives on Saturday to resolve two main issues--load shedding and tariff. It is not clear whether he held any meeting with them or not.