ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar held a meeting with Shixin Chen, Vice President (operations) for Asian Development Bank (ADB) and discussed the ADB’s energy programme in Pakistan, government’s energy reforms.

Minister lauded ADB’s support in pursuing reforms agenda and various development projects for the country. He expressed satisfaction on the firm commitment of ADB as key partner in reforms agenda in priority sectors including energy.

According to a press release, various projects in power sector are moving forward with good pace including the Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system to be rolled out as a pilot project in IESCO region, projects in NTDC and DISCOs.

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The Minister stressed upon the need to expedite the Jamshoro project and special attention from ADB’s side. The pre-feasibility study for the underground gas storages is also expected to be completed in a year.

Ministry also shared its positive progress on circular debt management of power sector. The structural bench marks have been met and IMF has also shown satisfaction in this regard. Moreover, the circular debt management plan is being updated together with approval of Subsidy Reforms Phase-II.

ADB will work on the feasibility of buying out imported coal energy plants on base load basis.

The ADB’s Vice president expressed his desire to engage with the ministry for Climate Change Policy, to which minister assured full support.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022