‘Govt to encourage competitive bidding for renewable energy projects’

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform, and Statistics Division Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar has said competitive bidding for tariff determination for future renewable energy projects would be encouraged.

The minister, in his capacity as chairman, was chairing the 2nd Steering Committee meeting on Integrated Energy Planning (IEP) for Sustainable Development in Islamabad on Thursday.

He said the government was committed to systematic and cost effective development of the energy sector, and was working on integrated energy planning for sustainable development.

Highlighting the work on a renewable energy policy to tap the indigenous resources, Bakhtyar said the government has also constituted a task force on energy in this regard.

He noted that the cost of renewable energy technologies has come down, and competitive bidding for tariff determination for future renewable energy projects would be encouraged. The minister said the government was making endeavours to provide affordable energy to the masses and a robust energy policy was being formulated in coordination with all stakeholders for sustained economic growth.

The minister said the government would prioritise the energy infrastructure needs in the next Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) to bridge the gap between transmission and distribution part of energy supply chain.

He said lack of integrated energy planning in the past affected the energy sector, and consequentially the economic growth. The present government was fully committed to steer this initiative to meaningful policy formulation and its implementation.

USAID Pakistan Mission Director Jerrry Bisson said the agency would continue to extend cooperation for integrated energy planning initiative.

The minister also called for expansion of the Steering Committee to include Prime Minister Task Force on Energy chairman and special assistant to PM on power.

Planning Secretary Zafar Hasan, Prime Minister Task Force Chairman Nadeem Babar, Special Assistant to PM on Power Shahzad Qasim, representatives from USAID Pakistan and US Department of Energy were present in the meeting.

The USAID Pakistan and Planning Commission had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on November 8, 2016 for cooperation in integrated energy planning. In line with the provision of the MoU, a Steering Committee on IEP was formulated to take the initiative forward.