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Islamabad, 6th May 2019: In 123rd meeting of the Board
of Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) held today under the
chairmanship of Federal Minister for Power, Mr. Omar Ayub Khan, the Board
approved issuance of Tripartite Letter of Support (TLOS) to two small
hydropower projects (SHPPs) under the Power Generation Policy 2015 while the
remaining SHPPs will be considered in the next Board meeting. The approved
projects include 7.08 MW Riali-II located at Ghori Wala Nullah, Neelum
Valley, Muzaffarabad and 8.00 MW Kathai-II located at Kathai Nullah, Jhelum
Valley, Hattian, AJ&K. This initiative will pave a way forward for many
other similar SHPPs and enhance confidence of investors in developing small
to medium size hydropower power projects in Provinces/AJ&K which will
further augment power generation based on indigenous and clean resources.
The Minister said that our end dream is to ensure
affordability in arranging future capacity additions for which hydro, solar,
wind and coal assets are particularly vital which are abundantly available
across country and enough to provide round-the-clock power supply for a long
time. The Minister further stated that previous government did not give
attention to the recovery of dues from power consumers and continued power
supply to high losses feeders while on the other hand, present government of
PTI is introducing reforms in power sector and indiscriminate action is
being taken again power theft as well as the defaulters and so far billions
of rupees have been recovered through this drive.
Managing Director PPIB Mr. Shah Jahan Mirza briefed the
meeting on various ongoing power generation projects being processed by
PPIB. The meeting was informed on various issues being encountered by
upcoming IPPs which require Board’s guidance/way forward so that said IPPs
are able to proceed swiftly. In order to facilitate the Sponsors in the
implementation of Thar coal based power generation projects, the Board after
detailed deliberations, agreed to allow six months extension in financial
closing date of 1,320 MW Thar Coal based Power Project being developed by
Thar Coal Block-1 Power Generation Company (Shanghai Electric Ltd.). The
Board further decided to encourage the Thar coal based power projects which
are crucial in meeting the future energy requirements of country and also
save millions of dollars of foreign exchange annually. In addition to this,
Thar coal based projects would generate economic activities as well as
employment opportunities for the people of the remote area of Thar which
entail improvement of the basic infrastructure of the area under Corporate
Social Responsibility. While considering bottlenecks in the development of
Thar coal based power projects, especially with regard to availability of
cooling water, the Board decided that every possible support from Government
of Pakistan would be extended to Government of Sindh for timely supply of
water to these projects so as their committed CODs may not be delayed and
also emphasized on Government of Sindh to expedite the completion of water
supply infrastructure on fast track basis. The Board also allowed extension
in financial closing of 1,263 MW RLNG based Power Generation Project near
Trimmu Barrage, District Jhang.
The Minister said that the Government of Pakistan
accords high importance to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which
has given major relief to the power sector of Pakistan. He said that we are
committed to prioritize this initiative and in this regard, the investors
are being facilitated to meet various timelines including commercial
operation dates specified under the framework of CPEC.
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