'Govt striving to meet growing energy need'

PPIB approves extension in financial close of Kohala hydropower project

ISLAMABAD: The present government is working on a number of initiatives to generate indigenous, reliable and affordable electricity through different means to meet the ever-growing energy needs of the country, said Federal Minister for Power Omar Ayub Khan.

While presiding over the 122nd meeting of the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB), he said our country has plenty of indigenous and natural resources, which if utilised astutely, can generate affordable electricity to bring sustainability in the system for many decades to come.

Various agendas were presented before the board seeking necessary guidance and approvals by PPIB for smooth development of hydro and coal-based power generation projects.

In this regard, the board agreed to allow a one-year extension in the financial close date of 1,124-MW Kohala hydropower project, considering that it is the largest hydropower project and so far the single largest investment in any independent power producers (IPP) in Pakistan/Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

The board gave advice to the government of AJK and PPIB to expeditiously resolve all pending issues of this project on priority basis.

The board also considered proposal for the processing of small hydropower projects that have been issued letter of interest (LOI) by provinces; AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan and referred to PPIB for subsequent handling under the tripartite letter of support (TLOS) regime as envisaged under Power Generation Policy 2015.

Furthermore, in order to facilitate indigenous fuel based projects, the board approved extension in the financial close deadline of 330-MW Siddiqsons Energy Limited and 330-MW Thar Energy Limited, maintaining the commercial operations date for these projects. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2019.

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