Matrix Report
Pakistan remains in the clutches of an extractive mindset. State institutions and affiliated entities try to charge clients excessively. The latest example is private electric vehicle (EV) recharging stations.
Two such stations – designed, manufactured, and installed by Tesla Industries, Pakistan – at Bhera and Pindi Bhattian, slightly off the M-2 Motorway went into operation recently. They have brought relief to the owners of Electric Vehicles in Islamabad and Lahore who will now be able to commute between the two cities without worrying about recharging.
Unfortunately, the stations had to be installed off the Motorway because low-ranking civilian and military officials responsible for the Motorway operations at FWO demanded a huge rent for a one-kanal space at the existing service areas.
Encouraged by the government’s e-vehicle policy, a number of foreign and local companies approached the Director General FWO and expressed the desire to install chargers at main service areas from Peshawar to Karachi. The initial response of the DG to was very encouraging. But when it came to implementation, apparently short-sightedness and greed among lower rung officials became the major stumbling blocks.
Let us look at the demands FWO officials placed before the investors.
1- The vendor will have to pay a monthly rent of Rs. 250,000 for a space of one kanal per Service Area.
2- The vendor will have to bear the expense of a new Transformer and allied wiring (approx Rs. 1 million per Service Area) and they will become the property of FWO as soon as they start functioning.
Note: Private company installs the transformer with own funds but will have to surrender it to FWO after installation
3- The vendor will not be allowed to pay to the power company directly as per the routine commercial tariff, but instead he will be charged a special tariff by the FWO
Note: Entire investment in transformer comes from the private sector but the FWO will determine a special COMMERCIAL TARIFF for the company to pay
World over, state institutions run on the principle of maximum turn-over – big volumes – as the source of long term benefit for all. But in Pakistan, bureaucracy mostly acts as a predator, as an extractive institution out to grab the maximum in one go.
This means slaying the cow instantly instead of allowing it to breath, prosper and serve you longer. Space for EV chargers at Motorway Service Areas should have been automatic, with at least some grace period and low rents because of the lower volume of electric cars.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) literally hounded investors away, undermined the trust of both Pakistani and foreign companies for decades. State-owned entities such as FWO also joined hands with the FBR to extract excessive taxes.
But bureaucracy seems cold-blooded, self-centered and totally indifferent to the government’s environment friendly e-vehicle policy. Is a subversion of clean-energy policy of the for personal and institutional benefits is being done?
