ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has strongly opposed the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2025–35, terming it discriminatory and in violation of constitutional provisions as well as binding decisions of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).
Presenting the province’s case during a public hearing at National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), Barrister Asghar Khan argued that the plan unlawfully excludes key provincial hydropower projects despite their prior approval and committed status under earlier planning frameworks.
He stated that the CCI, through its decision dated September 13, 2021, had clearly mandated that all provincial public sector projects with approved PC-1s as of October 1, 2020, and secured financing arrangements — including World Bank-funded projects up to March 2021 — must be treated as “committed” projects. However, he alleged that the Independent System and Market Operator (ISMO) has unilaterally altered the evaluation criteria without obtaining approval from the CCI by introducing an additional requirement of achieving 10 percent physical and financial progress.
READ MORE: PEDO opposes exclusion of two hydropower projects from IGCEP
According to him, this move directly undermines the CCI’s authority, which is the constitutionally mandated forum for resolving inter-provincial matters in the electricity sector. He added that the CCI’s decision has also been incorporated into Clause 5(c) of the National Electricity Plan (NE Plan) 2023–27, notified by the federal government, which explicitly requires continuity of all projects declared “committed” in IGCEP 2021 across subsequent plans.
Barrister Asghar Khan pointed out that the Madyan and Gabral Kalam hydropower projects were duly recognised as “committed” in IGCEP 2021–30 and IGCEP 2022–31, as acknowledged by NEPRA. Their removal from the committed list in IGCEP 2025–35, he argued, has been carried out without due process, notice, or any opportunity of hearing to the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO), making the action unlawful and arbitrary.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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