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The 15th Steering Committee Meeting of SAFIR was held on 10th September 2008 at Le Meridien Hotel in New Delhi, India. This meeting was presided by the ex-Chairman of SAFIR i.e. Mr. Khalid Saeed, who is also Chairman NEPRA, Pakistan.
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In the welcome address Mr. Saeed welcomed all the members and especially three new members - The Competition Commission of Pakistan; Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board – India and Water Supply Tariff Fixation Commission of Nepal.
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In her opening remarks, Ms Bhavna Bhatia, Regional Program Leader in PPIAF, gave a brief history of SAFIR’s evolution over the last 9 years and PPIAF’s association with SAFIR.
She raised three important issues for discussion amongst SAFIR Members
- How do we keep SAFIR relevant and useful?
- What would be the appropriate format for SAFIR?
- How can SAFIR become sustainable?
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Safir Core Course
Mr. S K Misra, Chairman CSERC, and also a member of the SAFIR Sub Committee on Core Course gave presentation on the issues pertaining to the Core Course which included course content, fees and location.
The SC meeting discussed all the issues related to the Core course and took the following decisions:
- Course fee should be restructured – Travel and hotel costs should also be reduced by selecting the locations and hotels smartly
- PPIAF funding should be diverted to the capacity building exercise like training programmes
- Core Course could be sponsored
- Course content should be made more attractive and it should be made more cross-sectoral
- Core course should be of 5 days
SAFIR should look for other options than LiRNE Asia. Initial dialogue will be made with LiRNE Asia to organize and market this flagship event of SAFIR. But if this dialogue fails then it was requested that Dr. Joseph Wilson should interact with LUMS on the time and cost of organizing the Core course with the help of LUMS. Similarly, it was suggested that Dr. Deo, Chairman CERC, should look for options to have an association with any university or institute in India to organize the 9th core course of SAFIR. This subject will be deliberated further by the Executive committee of SAFIR. After discussions on this topic the SC meeting constituted a sub-committee with three members - Prof. T L Sankar, Prof. V Ranganathan and Dr. Joseph Wilson, for working on the course content (drawing broad outlines for the course).
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Certification Program
Mr. J L Bose, Chairman MPERC and Member of the Subcommittee on Certification program gave a presentation on behalf of the sub-committee. SAFIR Members deliberated on the format and content of the Certification. Some of the Members raised the issue of timing for the Certification, since the Core Course itself was not being conducted regularly. The Members concluded that the Certification could be taken up at a later date. |
Permanent Secretariat for SAFIR
On the issue of permanent secretariat, it was unanimously decided that there should be a permanent secretariat for 3 years in one country and then it can be moved to other member country. The staff will be hired for three years contract. CERC was requested to look at the possibility of setting up a permanent secretariat of SAFIR in its premises. CERC will also seek legal advice on registration of SAFIR. |
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SAFIR Accounts
A separate Bank Account has been opened for SAFIR in New Delhi. The inflows into SAFIR’s account has shown an improvement from Rs. 5,28,000 in 2007 to Rs 36,41,412 in 2008 mainly on account of clearance of backlog of membership fees. The present balance also includes receipt of Rs. 7,98,557 that was reimbursed by PPIAF for organizing 14th SC Meeting and workshop in 2007.
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Executive Committee
For the prompt implementation of decisions taken during SC meeting and to take SAFIR forward, an Executive Committee was constituted representing one Member from each member country. The members of Executive committee are – Dr. Pramod Deo, India; Mr. Khalid Saeed, Pakistan; Mr. B K Mansingh, Nepal; Mr. K B Wakhley, Bhutan; and, Prof. H.Y.R. Perera, Sri Lanka.
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New Chairman
Due to rotation policy existing in SAFIR, it was suggested that the next chairperson for SAFIR should be from Bhutan. With the consensus of all the members present during the SC Meeting, Mr. K B Wakhley, CEO Bhutan Electricity Authority, was selected as the new Chairman of SAFIR.
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