AFD SUPPORTS PPIB IN ITS ENDEAVOURS TO DEVELOP HYDROPOWER

Islamabad: 11 February 2020: In order to diversify the energy-mix of country, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) is encouraging development of hydro potential to produce clean, green and affordable electricity. These efforts further supplemented by signing two Agreements today between the Government of Pakistan, the Agence Française De Développement (AFD), France and the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB). The Financing Agreement was signed between Economic Affairs Division (EAD) and AFD while the Project Agreement signed between Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and AFD. From EAD side Dr. Syed Pervaiz Abbas, Secretary while from PPIB Mr. Shah Jahan Mirza Managing Director signed the documents respectively while from AFD, Mr. Philippe Steinmetz, Director AFD Pakistan signed both Financing and Project Agreements. The signings were witnessed by high officials of EAD, PPIB and AFD. The Honorable Ambassador of France to Pakistan His Excellency Mr. Marc Baréty witnessed the ceremony and co-signed the Financing Agreement.

Under the agreement, AFD will provide grant of 500,000€ to PPIB for improvement of expertise and for implementation of hydropower projects more efficiently. The agreed areas of support for technical assistance include preparation of mechanism for tariff based bidding for hydropower projects, hiring of consultant to assist Panel of Experts (POE) on review of Feasibility Study for hydropower projects and capacity building of PPIB employees.

It operates in a number of sectors (energy, health, biodiversity, water, urban planning, training) and offers a wide range of financial and non-financial services. Through its network of 85 agencies, AFD operates in 108 countries, where it is currently financing, monitoring and supporting over 2,500 development projects.

PPIB is a frontline institution of the GoP providing one window facilitation for promoting indigenous coal, and renewable hydro potential for power generation. Currently a diversified portfolio of seventeen (17) hydro IPPs of 6,550 MW and seven (7) Thar coal based IPPs of 4,950 MW is under process by PPIB, of which majority of projects are at advance stages of LOS and above. PPIB has successfully materialized first ever hydro and Thar coal based IPPs in the country while first ever private sector transmission line will also be getting ready by March 2021.

Mr. Shah Jahan Mirza appreciated AFD for taking keen interest in the hydropower sector of Pakistan and said that such efforts will produce fruitful results for the sake of attaining reliability and sustainability in the power sector. He invited AFD to work together for developing Pakistan’s Power Sector on robust and solid footings.