LAHORE: A five-member delegation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) discussed matters relating to development priorities, roadmap and financing of projects with WAPDA chairman.

The delegation called on Chairman of WAPDA Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (retd) on Monday. The delegation comprised Executive Director for Pakistan Noor Ahmed, Executive Director for Japan Takahiro Yasui, Executive Director for People’s Republic of China Veihua Liu, Executive Director for Korea Sangmin Ryu, and Director’s Adviser Ronald Ray San Juan.

Member Finance WAPDA Naveed Asghar Chaudhry and Member Power WAPDA Engineer Jamil Akhtar were also present on the occasion. The delegation was briefed about the low-cost, clean and green energy generation plan, WAPDA is implementing on priority to minimize dependence on costly thermal electricity being generated on imported fuel and counter its adverse impact on the environment.

The delegation was also appraised of WAPDA’s asset base, financial streams and innovative strategy to arrange funds for construction of its projects. Besides discussing under-construction WAPDA projects, Diamer Basha Dam and Mohmand Dam Hydropower Project in particular, portfolio of the projects, which are ready for initiating construction work namely Thakot and Pattan, was also presented to the delegation for Projects Readiness Financing by the ADB. The delegation was also briefed about the excellent financing opportunities in WAPDA projects.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023