The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded $810,000 grant to Habibullah Energy Limited (HEL) to address critical power shortage and promote energy security in Pakistan under the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, affirmed by President George W. Bush and President Pervez Musharraf in March last year.
The grant will partially fund the early investment analysis on a proposed 150 MW power plant as well as develop a detailed plan to ensure the reliable supply of coal for the plant from the Lakhra Coal-fields in Pakistan. In addition to the USTDA grant, HEL will contribute significant additional resources towards the completion of the study.
The grant was conferred in a signing ceremony at USTDA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. USTDA Acting Director Leocadia I. Zak and HEL Managing Director Saeed Khan Peracha signed the grant agreement. Economic Minister of the Embassy of Pakistan, Abdul Wajid Rana, Foreign Affairs Officer of the US Department of Energy; Tom Cutler, and Executive Director of the US-Pakistan Business Council, Esperanza Gomez Jelalian also participated in the signing ceremony.
Bilateral co-operation in the energy sector was identified as a priority area under the US-Pak Strategic Dialogue with coal and renewable energy development specifically recognised as key areas for co-operative efforts.
The proposed 150 MW integrated coal mining and power project is a major private sector initiative that will help alleviate Pakistan's present and growing power generation shortfall, and will be a major advance in the development of the country's enormous, but virtually untapped coal resources.
The USTDA recently awarded two grants in support of Pakistan's renewable energy sector. One grant, in the amount of $325,000 will fund a feasibility study for Pakistan's Alternative Energy Development Board for the establishment of a proposed 5-10 MW waste-to-energy power plant near Karachi.