ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, addressing the launching ceremony of Lighting Pakistan Programme organised by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has said that the PML-N government has given a new life to the energy sector, which has been neglected for over a decade.
He said that the government was taking all possible measures to ensure energy security and sustainable development in the country but the enemies did not want to see a prosperous and developed Pakistan. Dar said due to structural reforms, stabilisation measures and various policy initiatives, the economy had been put on the right track. He said that the growth rate that averaged around 3 percent in five years before June 2013, rose to 4.14 percent in 2013-14 and was projected to rise further during 2014-15.
He said major initiatives were now underway in terms of power generation, transmission system upgradation, LNG import, diversified fuel-based projects as well as alternative and renewable energy projects would transform the landscape of the power sector within the next three years and this should add 1.0 percent to 1.5 percent to Pakistan’s GDP growth rate.
Dar said that the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) had been pursuing the development of renewable energy power projects in collaboration with the private sector in the country. “As a result, more than $1 billion investment has been made in the wind energy sector alone in the last a couple of years”, he said, adding five wind power projects with a cumulative capacity of 255.4MW were operational at the moment and another eight wind power projects having a cumulative capacity of 429MW were under construction.
He said that the government was also bringing in standardisation of quality in solar products, particularly for imported products, through the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB). “It is being ensured that quality solar devices are imported into Pakistan to ensure that the consumers get value for money and Pakistan avoids market spoilage”, he added.
The minister also urged the solar distributors and manufactures in Pakistan to work with standardised and quality products to help build a strong commercial market. This initiative on standardisation is part of the government’s broader agenda to tackle the energy crisis which includes three recent steps, he added.
Inflation, which had averaged around 12 percent before June 2013, was brought down to 8.6% in 2013-14 and is now projected to decline further to around 5% in 2014-15, which will be the lowest in the last many years, he said, adding low inflation will increase purchasing power of the people of Pakistan, something which bodes well for the investors.
He said the tax revenues showed an upward trend in the first year of our government, increasing by 16.44. He said that this strong performance had continued during the current fiscal year with a revenue growth of around 13% in the period July-April 2014-15 compared to last year, despite a massive decline in oil and other commodity prices having a negative impact on revenue collection.
