First-Hand:WAPDA's Electric Distribution System in Pakistan

Submitted by Frank K. Faulkner

My sixties included participation in a team effort to improve WAPDA's electric distribution system in Pakistan. Although this should have been the high point of my career, complications including poor cooperation of joint venture partners, intransience of Pakistani nationals, and redirection by USAID officials resulted in my disappointment and retirement. An ethical conflict resulted when the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was assured by USAID that the joint venture team would assist in the thirty million dollar ADB distribution loan project. However, the joint venture team was restricted to work only on the USAID fifty million dollar project.