The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday assured of financing major water and power sector projects without giving guarantee on Diamer Basha dam. This was the crux of a meeting which Juan Miranda, Director General, Central West Asia Department Bank, had with Minister for Water and Power Naveed Qamar, along with a six-member delegation.
Miranda said that the Bank is already financing various projects, and would further extend its support to mega power sector projects. According to a press release, Miranda said that the Bank would provide financial and technical support to the Diamer Basha dam project, saying that the process for finalising the modalities would be completed on fast track.
For the last two years, ADB has been in the process of finalising modalities and a couple of months ago the resident representative of ABD had told Business Recorder that the Bank had not at that time decided to finance the Diamer Basha dam. ADB is also financing private sector hydel power projects and will encourage the private sector in this regard, he added. The ADB has already put a number of projects at risk, which has sent negative signals to Islamabad.
The federal government, sources said, is also taking up this issue with the visiting Director General, Central West Asia. Minister Naveed Qamar while welcoming the delegation said that the government is taking all possible measures to improve the efficiency of the energy sector and various projects have been identified. He offered the bank to finance rehabilitation plan of gencos, tube well energy efficiency project, small and medium dams, and capacity building of some organisations. Tube well energy efficiency programme is being introduced throughout Pakistan and "we have to complete it by end of 2012".
Sources said that the ADB delegation expressed displeasure over progress in some of the energy sector projects which are behind schedule. Various parts of the tube well equipment will be replaced with new energy efficient equipments in order to save energy", he observed. He also asked the delegation to complete the formalities for funding Bhasha dam as early as possible.
He highlighted the importance of the project in national development and said it will be a multipurpose project, play a vital role in flood mitigation and open a new era of economic development and prosperity in Pakistan. Qamar also sought bank's co-operation for wind and solar energy projects to generate cheaper electricity. The Minister also discussed the transmission line rehabilitation and improvement programme and various other water sector projects with the Bank's co-operation. The meeting was also attended by Secretary of the Ministry, Chairman Wapda, MD PPIB, Joint Secretary Power and senior officials.
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