Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Power Division Barrister Ali Zafar on Monday advised the Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB) to further exploit indigenous resources and reduce dependence on imported fuels for power generation in order to save huge foreign exchange against fuel imports and also to bring affordability and sustainability in electricity supplies.

He said that affordable and reliable electricity plays an important role in socio-economic development of any country. He made these remarks while presiding over the 118th board meeting of PPIB on Monday.

The meeting reviewed the progress of the under process power projects being handled by PPIB and expressed satisfaction on the pace of work to achieve the commercial operations within the given timeline. The board advised PPIB to facilitate the investors and complete the projects within a specified time frame to meet the future energy requirements in the country.

Earlier, PPIB Managing Director Shah Jahan Mirza briefed the meeting on the overall PPIB’s portfolio and said that PPIB is focusing on addition of affordable electricity and prioritising indigenous resources like Thar coal and hydro power projects.

In this regard, PPIB is in the process to shortly advertise two to three raw-site hydro projects. The projects will be awarded through the International Competitive Bidding on Built Own Operate & Transfer basis under applicable power policy. The meeting was also apprised that seven Thar coal based power projects with cumulative capacity of 4,950 megawatts are different stages of development.

Furthermore, coal will also be available for new power projects from existing mine lease holders.

Thar coal holds vital importance for generating thousands of megawatts of affordable electricity for decades to come. The development of Thar coal will also play a major role in socio-economic development of the remote areas of Sindh and will help in achieving energy security and sustainable goals. Giving details of power projects being processed by PPIB, he informed that the current target of PPIB is to complete nine projects of 8,200MW by the end of the current year while 14,000MW by 2021 out of which six power projects of 6,421MW have already been commissioned and have been supplying reliable electricity to the national grid.

The managing director briefed that so far PPIB has attracted leading international investors and lenders in the country’s power sector and currently administrating 37 commissioned independent power producers with a cumulative capacity of 15,469MW worth a $1 billion, which is an accomplishment that makes PPIB stand out in the country’s power sector. He further added that PPIB is also acting as front line institution of government in implementing the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Programme (CPEC) by processing major chunk of power sector’s projects under the auspices of CPEC.

PPIB’s current portfolio includes 12 power projects under CPEC regime of 10,934 and one High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission line projects – the first ever HVDC and private sector transmission line project in the history of the country. Out of this CPEC portfolio, two imported coal based power projects of total 2,640MW have already been commissioned whereas other projects are at different stages of implementation.

Published in Daily Times, July 24^th 2018.