Govt. overlooks deadline to pay first installments to 19 IPPS

The government has missed the deadline for payment of the first installment of about Rs 85 billion to about 19 independent power procedures required under an agreement signed on Feb 28. Pending the conclusion of a National Accountability Bureau inquiry.

Inquiry by the National Accountability Bureau is underway.

“Practically this is the default on part of the government because it has not paid committed funds in time,” said a representative of an IPP, adding the IPPs set up under 1994 power policy and Hubco contracted before 1994 policy would be entitled to send notices of default to the government on Tuesday.

Under the agreements signed in the last week of February, the government was to clear about Rs85bn to 19 pre-Nepra IPPs set up under 1994 policy and Hubco latest by March 29. The amounts for each IPP were verified and audited and involved no procedural hitch. A Power Division official said these non-payments were already accruing interest and should have been cleared by now.