ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has passed on a hugecircular debt of Rs1.148 trillion to the new government of PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The PML-N had come up with a slogan in 2013 that it would bringload-shedding to an end during its five-year tenure.

It solely focused on setting up thermal power plants to increaseelectricity production, but failed to streamline and upgrade thetransmission and distribution network, which could not bear the load ofadditional power generation.

Of late, the circular debt has become a mammoth challenge for allgovernments, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which ran thegovernment from 2008-13. The situation is no different for the newgovernment which will have to deal with a debt burden of over Rs1 trillion.

In a meeting of the Senate special committee on circular debt on Friday,officials of the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) revealed that out ofthe total circular debt, Power Holding Private Limited (PHPL) had borrowedRs582.86 billion whereas Rs566 billion was borrowed to cover receivables ofpower distribution companies.

The meeting, chaired by Senator Shibli Faraz, was informed that PHPL was topay Rs153 billion in annual interest on the loans.