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Omar Ayub stresses the need for cooperation in energy sector among SAARC countries

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April 8, 2019: Minister for Power Division Omar Ayub Khan on Monday stressed the need for cooperation in energy sector, regional harmony, setting aside disputes among the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries.

Addressing at opening ceremony of 9th Meeting of SAARC Working Group on Energy here, the minister said the energy was an important sector and we could not live in isolation.

He said the government was making efforts to completely change the existing energy mix by 2030. Investment would also be enhanced in Renewable Energy (RE), he said.

The minister said economic activities could not be accelerated without ensuring smooth and cheap electricity.

He said it should be our prime goal to extend actively cooperation in energy sector among the SAARC country in order to raise standard of living of the people.

He expressed the hope that SAARC Working Group on Energy would give positive suggestions for provision of cheap electricity in the member countries.

He said Pakistan has over 30,000 MW installed capacity. Out of total 60 percent was being generated through imported fuel including furnace oil, coal etc while 30 percent by hydel, 6 percent nuclear and only 4 percent by RE.

Now the government has decided to reduce dependency on imported fuel and promote RE sector. Under the new mechanism, by 2025, the share of RE in energy mix would be enhanced to 25 percent by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030.

He expressed the hope that share of green and clean energy would be 60 percent of total energy mix by 2030.

Omar Ayub said Pakistan has also largest reserves of coal and first power plant running on indigenous coal has already started working. He said the around 750 MW renewable energy would be added to the system shortly by attracting investing of $2 billion.

He said the government was also encouraging net metering, wheeling and automatic meter reading system in the country.

The minister said special attention was also being given to transmission and distribution system. Efforts were being made to get electricity from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan through CASA-1000 project, he added. He said we also want to connect the region through transmission line. 

He said that they were expecting $40 billion investment in power generation by 2030 while there was also space of $15-20 billion investment in power distribution system.

Omar Ayub said 8000 MW Bunji dam, Dasu project and Diamer Bhasha dam were important projects of power generation.

He said cost of energy could be reduced by adopting latest technology which would help benefit the entire industry resulting better livelihood.

(APP)

Posted on: 2019-04-08T17:25:00+05:00

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