ISLAMABAD: The Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) approved the implementation agreement (IA) for R-LNG based power projects in public sector.
This is part of the Clean, Affordable and Reliable Energy (CARE) initiative of the Pakistani government to address the energy shortfall through import of R-LNG for power generation.
In this respect, three power plants of approximately 3600MW are being developed, of which two projects to be located at Balloki and Haveli Bahadur Shah are being processed in the public sector by the federal government while the third one Bhikki is being developed through Punjab government.
As per government decision, these public sector projects will be set up under independent companies in order to bring in efficiency and transparency in operations.
Accordingly, such projects will be facilitated by PPIB in IPP mode. The Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) developed by Central Power Purchasing Agency (Guarantee) Limited (CPPAGL) has already been approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).
In Thursday’s meeting, the Board reviewed the draft IA for final approval of ECC. This is a major initiative of the government to eliminate loadshedding through clean and affordable energy.
The meeting was chaired by the Federal Minister for Water and Power and attended by Secretary Water and Power, Managing Director PPIB and other high level federal and provincial government officials.
The ongoing private sector power projects were reviewed and it was agreed that for future, PPIB should process power projects on indigenous fuels like local coal and hydropower. It was advised by the board that the ongoing hydropower projects be expedited and their progress be monitored so that they can come online in a minimum time.
