Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif said on Monday that the Government accords high importance to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which will give a major relief to the power sector of Pakistan. Presided over a meeting of PPIB Board, he said that the government is committed to prioritise this initiative and in this regard, the investors are being facilitated to meet various timelines including commercial operation dates specified under the framework of CPEC.
In order to cut the power generation cost and to make it affordable to the masses, coal, hydro and R-LNG are key resources under the present scenario, the government is not only focused on arranging additional megawatts to bridge the demand-supply gap, but targeting on these cheaper fuels to bring down the electricity generation cost.
Managing Director PPIB Shah Jahan Mirza briefed the Board on current status of various ongoing power generation projects, including hydro and coal based power generation projects being processed under the framework of CPEC. Thar is considered to be the hub for hosting major coal reserves having potential of producing thousands of cheaper megawatts, hence government is particularly targeting these reserves. The progress of two Thar coal based power project (i) 660 MW Engro Powergen and (ii) 1320 MW Shanghai Electric Group Company Power project was reviewed by the Board. PPIB is expeditiously processing M/s Engro and the project is expected to achieve Financial Close by June 2016.
It was briefed that two imported coal based power projects namely, 1320 MW coal based power project at Port Qasim, and 1320 MW coal based power project at Sahiwal by Chinese investors have already completed around 50 percent construction activities, and both projects are expected to meet the timelines specified in their agreements.
It was informed that the initial response from the bidders is very encouraging and in order to facilitate the investors community, PPIB has extended the deadline for submission of bids for 1000 MW R-LNG based power generation projects at existing GENCOs and greenfield sites by another 15 days that is till April 5, 2016. The interested parties can purchase RFPs upto March 30, 2016. The Board advised PPIB to also facilitate the processing of 3600 MW R-LNG based public sector power generation projects for timely completion.
The Minister stated that government is making every effort to further mitigate the electricity crisis to provide relief to the consumer in coming summer season. The present government has improved power sector recoveries, while the issue of long outstanding dues of provinces are also being resolved amicably in co-ordination with respective provincial governments. The Minister and Board members expressed their satisfaction on the progress of ongoing projects being handled by PPIB and assured fullest support to PPIB in sharing Government's resolve of eliminating load shedding through affordable means.-PR