ISLAMABAD: The US Government sponsored Power Distribution
Improvement Program (PDIP) has prepared a comprehensive trainings
program for the employees of eight power sector distribution companies
(DISCOs) starting immediately after Eid in September.
Key areas
in which trainings are planed are Engineering, Finance, Human
Resources, Commercials, Communications and Outreach and Change
Management. PDIP is already providing IT trainings to more than 1100
employees of DISCOs in eight cities all over Pakistan.
The IT
training will help DISCOs to use computers for internal & external
communications and shifting from traditional manual systems to
computerized and online systems, which will lead to improved
productivity & efficiency and better customer services.
“The
trainings program include management practices in strategic planning
and change management, engineering planning and standards, personnel
systems training, customer information system training, lineman safety,
business plan and financial modeling, communications and customer
outreach, and methods of developing and training personnel” said Dick
Dumford, Chief of Party of the USAID Power Distribution Improvement
Program, which organizes the trainings in collaboration with the
Ministry of Power and Water.
“The objective of PDIP is to
assist DISCOs in bringing improvements in their work which can be only
possible if they consistently and constantly build capacity of staff
and adopting modern utility practices.” These trainings are organized
as part of the U.S. commitment to support the Government of Pakistan in
reforming the energy sector and improving the performance of DISCOs.
The
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) implements these
assistance programs, which also support completion of dams, renovation
of power plants, and introduction of more efficient technologies to
reduce energy use in the agriculture sector. MWP-USAID Power
Distribution Improvement Program (PDIP) is a three-year, USAID-funded
program aimed at working jointly with government-owned electric power
Distribution Companies(DISCOs) in Pakistan to improve their performance
in terms of reduction in losses, and improvement in revenues and
customer services, to bring them to a level of well-run utilities as in
other progressive countries.
Through this program, the United
States Government provides assistance and support to the Government of
Pakistan (GOP) in its efforts to reform the power sector to end the
current energy crisis. ONline
