7,730 MW to be generated: 145 renewable energy projects under way,Senate panel told

The Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reforms was informed on Friday that as many as 145 renewable energy projects of 7,730.3MW will be completed in near future. The committee met with Senator Agha Shahzaib Durrani in the chair here at the Parliament House.
The committee was told that the renewable energy projects to be completed in near future include 19 projects of a total of 531MW electricity, 22 projects of a total of 1199.3MW and 104 projects of over 6,000 MW.
The committee was told that as many as 24 wind power projects are in place under the 2006 Policy and these projects are in Thatta district of Sindh.
It was told to the committee that some areas in Balochistan have high potential of wind power generation but those areas are not yet connected with the grid.
The committee was told that 15 more projects are under development and there are also projects for Balochistan as surveys have been conducted in the last three years. As many as 6 solar power projects and 8 biomass projects are also functional at present.
The members of the committee observed that renewable energy resources have become common in other countries and Pakistan is lagging behind in having an efficient energy mix which should have had 25% share of renewable energy by now. The committee recommended that private sector and overseas Pakistanis should be encouraged to invest in energy sector. The ministry told the committee that the revised policy coming by the end of this year has these incentives incorporated.
The committee asked Alternative Energy Development Board to submit province and district wise segregation of future projects of wind and solar power projects and also asked to submit a survey of possible locations of renewable power generation in the country, particularly areas of Balochistan which have been declared as best sites for solar and wind power generation including Gwadar.
The committee also directed to provide details of the project of converting the existing tube wells in Balochistan on solar energy as it was considered to be inefficient.
During the briefing on M-8 Ratodero to Khuzdar Motorway project, the committee was told by Member West NHA that 90 % work is complete with 7 out of eight bridges functional. The committee was told that the initial cost of the complete project from Gwadar to Ratodero was Rs 23 billion for 900 km length and due to a number of reasons presently it stays at Rs 38.026 billion for 450 km, half of the length of M-8; while the Hoshab-Khuzdar section was removed from the project and realigned.
Regarding the present status of Nai Gaj Dam, the committee was told that according to the formula, 50 percentage funding will be done by the federal government and the remaining 50 % by the beneficiary province which is government of Sindh in this case and the provincial government has not given any commitment as of today regarding its share of payment. The committee decided to call chief secretary Sindh and secretary irrigation Sindh in the next meeting to take their views.
Regarding re-allocation of Rs 24 billion out of Rs 27 billion under the head of special initiatives of CPEC towards other programmes, the committee was told by the secretary planning that this money was not allocated for CPEC projects but was targeted at other projects of national development under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The committee sought details of the projects where this money was re-allocated and directed the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms to take the information from Cabinet Division and submit to the committee before its next meeting so that it can be discussed in presence of the mover, Senator Raza Rabbani.