Tarin stopped short of quitting over controversy after PM’s nod to third-party involvement
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: Disgusted at the outright rejection of his anti-Rental Power Plants (RPPs) stance by the prime minister and his own cabinet colleagues, a dejected Shaukat Tarin reportedly had decided to throw in the towel at the end of last week’s cabinet meeting, which had given a formal approval to the controversial rental power projects, it was reliably learnt.
A highly reliable source close to Tarin revealed the finance minister had given an “extremely forceful and fact-based representation against the rental power scheme and had also warned of a ‘huge financial setback’, but all his pleas were ultimately ignored by the prime minister and a bevy of five extremely powerful ministers.” Two key ministers had impressed upon the meeting that in the event of load-shedding, not ending by December this year, the situation could even end in the ouster of the government, the source said.
The source went on to add after the meeting an extremely disappointed Shaukat Tarin seriously considered resigning his office, as he did not want to be seen as being a part of this controversial decision of the cabinet which, he genuinely believed, would put a crippling burden on the poor masses.
Tarin was said to have withheld his resignation only after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani conceded to some of his important demands after the cabinet meeting, including involvement of the Asian Development Bank to conduct the audit of these projects, and most importantly, to determine the thorny issue of transparency in the award of contracts issued for the installation of these rental projects.
When contacted by The News for the confirmation of this touted resignation, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin confirmed that he had been extremely upset after the cabinet meeting. When asked, according to a source, if he had decided to resign and had even penned down his resignation for handing over to the prime minister, Tarin did not deny the report and only said, “You can write that the finance minister refused to make a comment on the issue of his resignation”. Tarin also refused to talk about his strong stance in the cabinet meeting against the installation of rented power plants in the country.
The source also told that once the meeting had ended after a heated debate on the issue of rental projects and other cabinet members left the room for Iftar dinner, a visibly dejected finance minister was spotted sitting all by himself in the empty cabinet room and writing a long note on a white paper (which later transpired to be his resignation). Three of his cabinet colleagues, namely Syed Khurshid Shah, Dr Babar Awan and Ejaz Jakhrani who, too, had almost exited the hall spotted the finance minister sitting by himself and scribbling away. According to another source, aware of the rather nasty exchanges of a little while earlier and aware of Tarin’s obvious disappointment, they walked over to him and were shocked to see that Train was writing his resignation letter addressed to the prime minister and which he had planned to hand over a few minutes later at an Iftar dinner hosted by the prime minister for his cabinet members. Sources said these three ministers argued with the highly upset finance minister, advising him against resigning and finally prevailing upon him, as the minister did not complete his resignation letter.
But the matter didn’t end here. Tarin then reportedly went straight to the prime minister and once again started discussing the same issue of approval of the rental projects, as he believed that it was not good for the country and its economy.
It was at this sage that Tarin, reportedly, asked the prime minister to take certain steps to establish the transparency of these projects, which were being criticised in the public and the media. Tarin proposed to Gilani that a third-party evaluation should be carried out and for this purpose, the Asian Development Bank must be involved for monitoring and audit of these projects. The whole process to award these contracts should be examined by the ADB, so we should come to know if there was any violation of rules or something controversial at the time of award of the contract. Gilani was said to have accepted demands of Tarin to satisfy him.
Earlier, a cabinet source said, when the meeting started its members already stood sharply divided over the issue of rental projects. As Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf ended his arguments in favour of these rental projects, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin was the first one to lead the charge against him. He raised several pointed objections against the very idea of installation of expensive rented power plants in the country. He, with the help of facts and figures, established before the cabinet members that these power projects were not suitable for Pakistan and its economy, and it would virtually add huge burden on the poor nation and its people. Tarin argued instead of installing the rental projects, the government must try to settle certain pending disputes with the IPPs and should arrange money to make payments, so they could revive their supply of power to Wapda. He argued the capacity of power plants could be enhanced and more power could be produced in the days to come, which might take some time but it would not be a devastatingly costly route. Tarin also wondered why the most expensive power purchase was being opted, as he commented, “At least, I can’t understand why we are buying expensive power.”
When he noticed that still his arguments were not being taken seriously, he used another weapon to stop its approval. He told Gilani and the cabinet ministers that these rental plants were quite old ones and were of no use for the country. Tarin warned the cabinet that these rented plants were also against the spirit of the international agreements, which Pakistan had already signed.
Sources said a speechless Raja Pervez Ashraf got emotional at this stage and shouted in the meeting that he had vowed before the people of Pakistan to end load-shedding before the end of December and he should not be stopped from fulfilling his commitment. He observed if this was not done, they all might be in a big trouble.
Upon this, Tarin warned the cabinet meeting if the rental projects were approved, the country would face a huge “economic setback”. Raja Ashraf did not give up as he immediately warned if this was not done, the government would face a lot of difficulties and they might find it difficult to run.
But, the finance minister was said to have not given up easily as he kept on trying to convince the cabinet members that the best option was to revive the closed power plants and settle disputes with IPPs. He also gave the figures that how the current power shortage could be overcome by taking some concrete measures such as revival of plants, payments to IPPs and settlements of disputes.
Sources said, at this stage, MQM minister Dr Farooq Sattar also joined the ranks of Shaukat Tarin and argued in favour of his arguments not to approve the rental projects. He said already several questions were being raised on these rented power plants in the country and they must refrain from approving them.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Babar Awan, who was assigned to resolve the issue through the Energy Crises Committee, opined that the issues with the IPPs could be sorted out amicably. But, the minister wondered that neither did Wapda nor the Ministry of Water and Power ever make any request to him to play a role in ending the tug of war between the IPPs and the government. Dr Awan believed immediately, Nishat, Raiwind, etc., plants could be revived and made functional to produce power.
When Raja Ashraf was found to be almost speechless in the face of rising logics and reasons against these expensive rented projects, Khurshid Shah, Manzoor Wattoo, Nazar Mohammad Gondal and others reportedly rushed to his rescue. They supported the rental projects.
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira was said to have also supported the installation of rented power plants on the plea if they did not approve these projects, the government would be in a huge trouble. Kaira was said to have smartly used the term of “technology of fear” to made the cabinet stop questioning the rented power projects.
Sources said after hearing warning to his own government in case he did not give approval to the rented projects, a rather subdued Gilani finally decided to stamp his approval on the controversial plan.
source: www.thenews.com.pk
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