*ISLAMABAD: *Planning Secretary Zafar Hassan on Friday informed theSenate’s Standing Committee on Planning and Development that the governmenthad spent 18pc extra funds on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2018-19.
“In the previous fiscal year, the federal government had released Rs192billion for CPEC projects against the total allocation of Rs167.16billion,” the Senate committee was informed.
The meeting was held in the Parliament House under the chairmanship ofSenator Agha Shahzaib Durrani.
While discussing an agenda regarding the reallocation of Rs24 billion (outof Rs27 billion) under the head of special initiatives of CPEC towardsother programmes, Senator Talha Mehmood maintained that owing to itsnational importance, CPEC must be given preference over others.
He raised suspicion as to where the amount of Rs24 billion was re-allocated.
On this, Zafar Hassan said this amount was not specifically allocated forthe CPEC projects. “Let me clarify that the amount of Rs27 billion wasplaced in the ‘access pool’ of PSDP which could have been utilised for CPECprojects if needed.”
He continued that the said funds were diverted to the cabinet division andwere utilised for small projects at the grassroots levels in less developedareas of the country.
He further clarified that the previous government had made a tokenallocation for more than 343 unapproved projects, implementation of whichwas not sighted in the near future.
“Therefore, in order to avoid extra expenditures, we delayed most of suchprojects and the funds were diverted to other important projects.”
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Meanwhile, briefing the meeting, officials from the Alternative EnergyDevelopment Board (AEDB) informed that the development of large scale gridalternative and renewable energy based-power projects was being pursuedthrough private investors.
The meeting was informed that as many as 24 wind power projects with acumulative capacity of 1,233.3MW were operational and providing electricityto the grid, besides six solar projects with a cumulative capacity of 430MW.
Talking about renewable energy projects under CPEC, the officials informedthat the CPEC framework included seven wind power projects with acumulative capacity of 398MW, of which five projects of 299MW capacity havealready been completed.
Likewise, the 1,000MW solar power projects in Quid-e-Azam Solar Park,Bahawalpur, were also part of CPEC.
Further, the meeting was told that in order to ensure sustainable suppliesand energy security, the government was focusing on exploiting the abundantpotential of wind and solar resources for power generation whilst keepingin view the best possible mode to benefit from the declining prices ofrenewable energy.
The meeting was also informed that the government has formulated a newAlternative Renewable Energy (ARE) Policy 2019, following the expiry of AREPolicy 2006. The aim of the policy was to establish a robust framework sothat a conducive environment for sustainable growth of ARE sector inPakistan could be created.
The meeting was also attended by Senators Gianchand, Engr Rukhsana Zuberi,Dr Asad Ashraf, Mir Kabeer Ahmed, Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar, Kauda Babarand Ahmed Khan.
