$77m power bills payable by govt

KABUL): Government has to pay Breshna Shirkat — the Afghan power utility — four billion afghanis (about $77 million) in electricity bills, the company said on Thursday.

Mirwais Alami, the Breshna Shirkat marketing chief, urged government authorities at a news conference in Kabul to clear the outstanding bills to help stabilise the company’s financial health.

He said the bill recovery effort in 2012 had been better than in past years, but government entities still defaulted on paying the company 400 million afghanis. However, he would not name the defaulters.

The official believed the public-sector units — the largest consumers — had been using more electricity than their annual budgetary allocations for the purpose.

In response to a query, he said Afghanistan imported 700 megawatts of power form Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Only 100 megawatts are generated domestically. The impoverished energy-deficient country pays id=”mce_marker”50 million for the imports.

Abdul Wakil Nasiri, the Kabul electricity department chief, confirmed load-shedding in the capital to avoid disruptions in the supply system.

ml/mud

.H�fn� �r”Times New Roman”,”serif”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;mso-bidi-language:PS-AF’>Abdul Wakil Nasiri, the Kabul electricity department chief, confirmed load-shedding in the capital to avoid disruptions in the supply system.

ml/mud

Visits: 2