In order to remove obstacles and impediments, Chairman Wapda suggested for fast track development of the projects under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and the Government of Pakistan might share some responsibilities with the private investors at development and execution stage.
He presented a complete framework for financial arrangements for mega power projects. The Minister for Water and Power said the Ministry was making efforts to enhance power generation in order to reduce supply and demand gap. He emphasised hydel-led energy mix which could provide cheaper electricity to the public.
The Finance Minister said that one year back, everybody including international financial institutions was talking of either Dasu or Diamer Bhasha dam. After coming into power, the government studied both the options and decided to go ahead with both Dasu and Diamer Bhasha at the same time. He further declared that the government would undertake Bunji, Pattan, Thahkot, Monda, and Dasu II projects too. He said that in line with the vision of the PML-N leadership, "we will concentrate on generating cheap electricity." He added that combined with Dasu, Diamer and coal-based projects; "we will eventually phase out costly thermal generation resulting in reduction of import bill."
The Finance Minister said "we will invite private sector in the energy projects while giving them reasonable upfront tariff." He directed the Chairman Wapda to prepare the whole model in the light of decisions taken in the meeting for final presentation to the Prime Minister. He expressed his optimism that international investors would be interested in investment opportunities in Pakistan providing promising returns.-PR