Syed Zaki HussainUS Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Pakistan Affairs Lesslie C Viguerie Monday called on Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan and discussed matters related to the energy sector.
The minister gave an overview of Pakistan’s energy sector and the present government’s earnest endeavors in reforming it, a Petroleum Division news release said.
He said the incumbent government had finalized an Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP)-2047 which emphasized on increasing the share of indigenous sources while reducing the reliance on imported fuel.
Omar Ayub said the IGCEP would forge massive addition of renewable capacity of 60 per cent power generation from biomass, solar and wind; 30 per cent from hydel and 10 per cent each from thermal and nuclear power plants.
The minister also highlighted that the government would induct renewable energy-based power plants through open and competitive bidding in a transparent manner.
He said the government would also encourage the transfer of technology in these projects, as it was focusing on manufacturing and assembly of wind turbines and solar panels in Pakistan.
He also apprised the US official about the efforts of current government to liberalize the energy market and said with introduction of the Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market (CTBM), the competition in power distribution and buying market would increase.
“As well as the IGCEP will aim at power generation plan at longer term,” he said hoping that combining both strategies would bring improvement in the power sector.
Omar Ayub called for greater US investments in energy sector such as power generation, transmission and distribution, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, hydel energy and training opportunities.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary Viguerie amiably appreciated the Pakistan government efforts being taken to revolutionize the energy sector.
He also believed that economic links between both the counties would strengthen Pak-US relationship.
“At conclusion, the both sides agreed to step up cooperation in the energy sector,” the press release said.
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