Federal Minister for Power Division, Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan
Leghari has said that the Government has initiated a third party evaluation of
the electricity demand and supply scenario which is in the final stage and the
Power Division is expected to receive its first report shortly. He said that
based on the third party evaluation and other related matters, the Government
will streamline the approval of new power projects in the country. The Minister
conveyed this while chairing the 111th meeting of the Board of
Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) held here today.
While settling
multiple matters regarding smooth implementation of power projects, the Board
decided to allow execution of Implementation Agreements and Supplemental to
Implementation Agreements with the Power Generation Projects based on Thar Coal
thus allowing PPIB to sign these agreements for smooth and earliest
implementation of their projects. These projects include 1320 MW Thar Block-I
Power Generation Co. (Shanghai Electric Power Co.), 330 MW Thar Energy (HUBCO)
Power Project, 330 MW Thal Nova Thar Power Project, 660 MW Lucky Electric Power
Co. and 330 MW Siddiqsons Energy Limited. The Minister said that all efforts
should be made to promote the local coal and any action should not in any way
affect or delay the pace of mining at Thar. He said that any temporary
arrangement to use imported coal should be well monitored and the plant design
should be based on Thar coal specifications for use of indigenous coal.
Sardar Awais Ahmed
Khan Leghari emphasized the uniform policy should be adopted for issuance of
Letter of Intent (LOI) and Letter of Support (LOS) to the potential investors
in the power sector in order to ensure transparency. He said that any
extensions in Projects timelines should only be allowed in accordance with the
applicable policies.
Mr. Shah Jahan
Mirza, Managing Director PPIB briefed the Board on the power generation and
transmission line projects currently being handled by PPIB. The Minister said
that PPIB being the one window facilitator for private sector power projects,
should hold its Board meetings frequently in order to dispose off cases more
diligently. He conveyed that the Power Division is considering to switch from
present upfront tariff regime to competitive bidding regime to add most
affordable electricity for the consumers in the national grid. Recommendations
in this regard will be placed before the Government for its consideration.
