South Asian Business news and information

Pakistan’s Water and Power Minister, Raja Parvej Ashraf and The Asian Development Bank delegation leader, Sean O’Sullivan, reached this agreement yesterday. Business Recorder reports:

A senior official of the water and power ministry, when contacted, said that it was the responsibility of the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) to determine the rates of a loan. He said that most likely the ADB loan would be available at mixed rates. The final decision in this regard will be taken when the EAD and the ADB sign the final agreement, he added.

According to an official statement, the ADB has offered investment in millions of dollars in water and power sectors in Pakistan in coming years. The delegation assured technical and financial support for water and power sector projects, including the up-gradation of existing distribution systems and transmission lines in order to improve system efficiency. The investment opportunities as well as the progress of on-going projects in water and power sectors were discussed in the meeting.

In the meeting, Raja Parvej said that his country is facing power shortage of more than 3000MW. He said that to meet the increasing demand of power, the present democratic government is very much interested to increase the country’s power generating capacity. Along with conventional sources, the government is also looking forward to alternative power sources like coal, wind, hydropower. Mr. Parvej sought ADB’s technical and financial assistance for building two hydropower projects- Kohala and Bunji.

Summer is the peak season in terms of power demand in South Asian countries and this is the time they face severe power shortage. It is good thing that Pakistan government is taking necessary steps to meet its growing power needs. At the same time, the government should ensure that the amount of electricity produced is properly utilized. The government should also raise awareness among people not to waste energy.

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Business Recorder