Currently, Sindh is revising the land utilisation policy in order to facilitate investors and a policy draft will be sent to the Ministry of Water and Power for vetting in a couple of days.
These things were discussed in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar here on Monday. Sindh Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Zubair Motiwala, BOI Secretary Naheed Durrani, Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) CEO Arif Allauddin and senior officials of the provincial government and AEDB attended the meeting.
A water and power ministry official said the province had decided to increase the land lease rate by 5 to 10% as the rate stood very low in the current land utilisation policy for wind power projects.
In this regard, a province representative told the meeting, investors had been taken on board. “Investors only want that the increase in lease rate should not affect the cost of their projects,” the ministry official said while quoting the Sindh representative.
According to a statement issued here, the government of Sindh assured participants of the meeting that land would be allotted on priority to the investors desiring to set up wind power projects of 1,000 megawatts by 2013.
Land would be provided to investors within 15 days after incorporating input from the power ministry for land utilisation policy, it said. Land has already been allotted to three investors for setting up wind power projects while some others have applied to explore the wind potential in the coastal area.
The meeting participants decided that allotment of land to investors would be cancelled if they had not yet completed formalities despite getting letter of intent (LOI) from AEDB and Sindh BOI. Land will be provided to investors as per capacity of the project.
According to Qamar, the government has planned to produce 1,000 megawatts of cheaper electricity from wind mills and has announced an incentive-based tariff along with other incentives in order to encourage investment in alternative energy.
Investors have been asked to complete formalities and financial close within six to eight months after getting possession of land and generate electricity by 2013. Upfront tariff will be given only to those investors who meet their commitment to produce electricity by 2013.
Qamar directed the AEDB CEO to finalise issues relating to the land utilisation policy and submit these to him immediately.
He also asked the Sindh government to announce holidays for two days a week in the province to overcome electricity load-shedding.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2012.
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