Workshop on 'micro-mini hydel projects attractive for investment' on Thursday recommended formulation of a coherent policy for the promotion of micro-mini hydel projects to provide energy to the remote areas of the country.
The Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) organised the workshop in collaboration with German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ) here in a local hotel.
Secretary, Water & Power, Ashfaq Mehmood emphasised on the importance to promote micro-mini hydel projects in Pakistan, especially to serve the remote areas, which were not connected to national grid.
He regretted that no regulatory system for micro-mini hydel projects ever existed in Pakistan whereas regulatory authority for bigger projects was incapable of dealing with micro-mini projects due to their structural and functional difference.
Mujahid Sadiq, head of International Co-operation for AEDB said that about 700 sites in Northern Areas, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Punjab had been surveyed and declared fit for the construction of micro-mini hydel dams there.
He said attracting private investors for micro-mini hydel project was a hard job due to poor infrastructure availability and high cost estimates.
The participants of the workshop raised various questions regarding the availability of locally manufactured turbines that were considered to be lacking in standard and quality.
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