ISLAMABAD — Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari Thursdaysaid that the National Electricity Plan and new Energy Policy was beingfinalised in collaboration with provinces aiming to help determining demandand supply of electricity and future sources of power generation.
Presiding over 113th meeting of Private Power and Infrastructure Board, theminister said the policy would play a major role in reducing tariff whichwould be based on International Competitive Bidding.
He said that all pending Letter of Intents (LOIs) issued to sponsors wouldaccordingly be evaluated under this plan.
The sponsors should diligently pursue their projects for timelyimplementation while practice of granting extensions in accomplishingvarious milestones should be avoided so that the plan for capacity additionwas not disturbed.
Minister of State Power Division, Ch. Abid Sher Ali, other senior federaland provincial government officers attended the meeting.The Board approved execution of Implementation Agreement (IA) with the+660kV HVDC Matiari-Lahore Transmission Line Project, consequently allowingPPIB to execute the agreement for timely implementation of this project ofnational importance. Extension in Financial Close date of 1320 MW ImportedCoal based Power Project at Hub was also approved without affecting thesynchronization date of the first unit on December 31, 2018 and RequiredCommercial Operation Date on August 1, 2019.
The Board accorded approval for submission of ECC Summary for approval ofIA and PPA for 1263 MW Trimmu RLNG based Power Project which is beingimplemented on fast track basis by the Government of Punjab.
The Federal Minister said that there were other aspects of the energycrisis which were being tackling on war footing, including constraints inthe transmission segment of the power sector, inefficiencies in thedistribution system, the circular debt burden and inadequate checks onpower theft. Eradicating load shedding, harnessing indigenous potential,controlling wrong meter-reading/over-billing and introducing net-meteringare extraordinary achievements of the government which will be instrumentalin making our electricity network efficient.
The Minister and Board members expressed their satisfaction on the progressof ongoing projects being handled by PPIB and urged PPIB to keep abreast onthe progress of said projects. – APP