*ISLAMABAD – Top French Companies have expressed interest in makinginvestment in Pakistan Power Sector.*
*Ambassador of France to Pakistan Marc Baret has revealed.*
*He called on Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) Omar Ayub Khanhere on Monday and informed him that two leading French companies wanted toinvest in the power sector of Pakistan.*
Omar Ayub said that Pakistan and France shared cordial relations andemphasised the need to extend those ties from trade and economic domain tocooperation in the field of energy. He said that Pakistan highly valued itsmulti-faceted relations with France.
The minister said that Pakistan was keen to forge closer relations withFrance in areas of mutual benefit. He said that Power Division had chalkedout a plan to control electricity theft and increasing capacity ofgeneration and transmission of electricity.
“Working is under way on a mechanism to deal with power theft. PowerDivision engaging with the provinces on creation of special task forceswith the support of provincial governments, local authorities and lawenforcement agencies for crackdown against electricity theft” he added.
The energy minister further elaborated that ABC cable which had a capacityto stop any kind of electricity theft would be installed initially in thepremises of IESCO, PESCO and LESCO and the cost for this project had beenestimated 900 million dollars. The Asian Development Bank will finance thisproject, he added.