Fahd Ali and Fatima Beg
April 2007
The 1994 power policy was highly successful in
that it attracted substantial foreign direct investment to Pakistan’s power
sector. However, the policy also
generated a great deal of controversy in which the independent power producers
were accused of using illegal means to secure lucrative contracts. This paper
attempts to present the controversies and issues that surrounded the policy. We
conclude that like most policy-making processes in Pakistan, the power policies
are designed with little or no input from relevant stakeholders. We suggest
that the way forward lies in strengthening electricity regulation in the
country, empowering civil society, and restructuring WAPDA, but not necessarily
privatizing it in the process.