Delay in issuance of bank challans for UEPL lease rental payment: PPIB seeks intervention of Sindh govt

ISLAMABAD: The Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) has sought the intervention of Chief Secretary Sindh for issuance of bank challans for payment of second-term land lease rental payment of UEP Wind Power Private Limited (UEPL).

In a letter to Chief Secretary, Sindh, Managing Director PPIB Shah Jahan Mirza referred to UEP Wind Power Private Limited letter of February 27, 2025, regarding the matter of delay in issuance of bank challans.

According to PPIB, UEPL is a 99MW Wind Power Project classified among the priority projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework. UEPL executed Energy Purchase Agreement (EPA) with the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) on September 20, 2014 and an Implementation Agreement (IA) with the then Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), now the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB), on behalf of the Government of Pakistan on February 6, 2015.

The project was commissioned in June 2017 and has been supplying clean energy to the national grid for the past seven years.

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According to Managing Director PPIB, the Government of Sindh (GoS), through its Land Utilisation Department (LUD), allocated land for the development of the project via Land Lease Deeds executed between LUD and UEPL on November 19 2014.

The allocated land (direct impact area) comprises 13.54 acres in Deh Kalo Khokar, district Jamshoro, and 31.88 acres in Deh Kohistan Tapo Jhimpir, district Thatta, for a lease period of 30 years.

In accordance with the lease terms, UEPL deposited Rs. 9,867,041 and Rs. 23,232,000 into the government treasury, calculated at a rate of Rs. 15 per square yard per year for the first ten years from the execution of the Land Lease Deeds.

As per the terms of the lease, the second-term land lease rental payment for a period of ten years became due on November 19, 2024.

However, despite UEPL’s repeated correspondences and follow-ups with the relevant authorities including the Deputy Commissioners’ (DC) Offices in Thatta and Jamshoro, the Commissioner of Hyderabad Division, and the Member, Land Utilisation Department, GoS, the issuance of Bank Challans from the respective DC offices remains pending.

MD PPIB has sought intervention of Chief Secretary for the prompt issuance of Bank Challans from the concerned DC offices.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025