Power Policy Changes On The Way
Pakistan government has constituted a committee to take provincial governments on board for drafting amendments in the ‘Power Policy 2002′, particularly hydro-power projects, official sources told Business Recorder. The decision was taken in a meeting of the Board of Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB), presided over by the Minister for Water and Power, Pervez Ashraf. More from Business Recorder.
The committee comprises of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman Shakeel Durrani, PPIB Managing Director Fayyaz Elahi and representatives of provincial governments. The committee has been given one month to resolve the issues raised by the provincial governments.
Sources said that the provincial governments were annoyed over PPIB not taking them on board and given appropriate time for comments on the proposed amendments in the policy. “Provinces are insisting that they should be allowed to seek investment directly for hydropower projects,” sources added. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif during his visit to China before his disqualification he had invited Chinese investors for hydropower projects.
The Minister for Water and Power is quite optimistic though. An official statement quoted the Minister as saying that the government is fully committed to achieve its targets for inducting the required power capacity into the national grid and end load shedding by the end of this year.
He said that 3000 MW will be added into the system by December 2009, which includes IPPs and rental projects being processed by PPIB in the private sector and projects being processed in the public sector by Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco). Progress of all power projects was reviewed in the meeting. PPIB Managing Director gave briefing on the status of independent power producers (IPPs) under construction, based on actual site visit of PPIB/ WPPO teams, on which the board expressed satisfaction.
