ISLAMABAD: The government at the end of its current tenure will pass on a much better electricity situation to the next government than what it had inherited from the preceding government.
These views were expressed by Federal Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar while chairing 93rd meeting of the Board of Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) held here Wednesday.
He said during our five year tenure, we have made important decisions for new projects and made the procedures easy and investor friendly.
He added that serious work has been started for generating power through bagasse and furthermore, power generation through wind and hydro resources has got a boost during our government, thus paving way for more reliance on wind power for future.
Managing Director Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) highlighted PPIB's initiatives to tackle the power situation prevailing in the country.
He said that with reference to indigenous resources, PPIB has undertaken fifteen (15) hydropower projects of around 6,500 MW power generation capacity in different locations of the country, some of which are at advance stages of completion.
In today's meeting, important decisions were taken relating to hydropower projects; 7100 MW Bunji Hydropower Project will be undertaken by WAPDA which will soon start studies on development of infrastructure i.e. transmission lines, access roads, land acquisition etc.
It was also decided with consensus of Punjab and AJ&K governments that PPIB shall develop 590 MW Mahl Hydropower Project in the private sector.
In order to facilitate and reduce the processing time for IPPs in obtaining Working Capital financing from banks, the Board approved the execution of Direct Agreement by PPIB with Working Capital Lenders.
To encourage cheaper coal based power generation, the Board approved procedures for development of Private Power Projects under Upfront Tariff. This will standardize and reduce the approval time once NEPRA announces tariff for coal based projects.
In his concluding remarks, the minster appreciated the efforts of PPIB for its relentless efforts to bring in power from the private sector and remarked that 2530 MW have been added to the national grid in the last five years.
The meeting was attended by Additional Secretary Ministry of Finance, Additional Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Member (Water) Wapda, Secretary Energy Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Secretary Electricity Government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Additional Secretary Energy Department, Government of Punjab, Additional Secretary Energy Department, Government of Sindh, representatives from Planning Commission, FATA and Private Sector member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa besides Executives Directors and Directors of PPIB and other senior government officials.
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