| |
Karachi: Ministry of Water & Power in
its notification has constituted a four-member Joint Committee
on Hydropower Public Private Partnership. Committee comprises
Additional Secretary Water & Power, Member Water WAPDA,
Executive Director Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB),
Chief Executive Officer Infrastructure Project Development
Facility (IPDF) and representatives from the Provinces/AJK/NAPWD.
IPDF, being the Public Private Partnership (PPP) unit of
Government of Pakistan in Infrasturucture will act as Secretariat
for the Committee.
The committee has been tasked to identify policy, legal
and regulatory issues and recommend implementation mechanism
and security package in order to attract private sector
investment in hydropower sector. The committee will also
be responsible for identifying potential hydropower projects
for PPP financing model. Currently total installed capacity
of hydro power plants in Pakistan is about 6704 MW, out
of which 3849 MW are generated in NWFP, 1039 MW in AJK,
1699 MW in Punjab and 117 MW in Northern Areas. Hydropower
Sector has the potential of generating 51700 MW of energy
but is still untapped because of lack of public resources
and foreign investment.
The decision comes in the wake of a growing realization
of the fact that virtual inability of the public sector
to bear the huge outlay of finances required for the development
of mega hydropower projects is the prime hindrance in the
development of hydropower projects . In order to exploit
the full potential of hydro power in Pakistan the Committee
will ensure the close liaison and coordination between various
stakeholders to discuss diverse relevant issues, including
arrangement of finance, tariff, hydrological risk as well
as development of security package documents and required
expertise. JHC will also provide instituional mechanism
for systematic development of Hydropower Sector.—Agency
|
