Army Chief’s direction intervention sought for removal of bureaucratic hurdles in way of new wind, solar projects involving $600M foreign investment

The prospective foreign investors keen for the past couple of years to build new wind and solar power projects in the country have sought direct intervention from the Chief of Army Staff for immediate removal of bureaucratic hurdles in the way of phenomenally increasing the clean energy generation capacity of Pakistan.
The Pakistan Foreign Renewable Energy Investors Forum (PFREF) has urged the Army Chief to intervene in this matter to ensure that there shouldn’t be any bureaucratic hurdle at the level of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SFIC) for approving the 13 long-pending wind and solar projects. These proposed 13 renewable energy projects will be capable of generating 600 megawatts of clean electricity. They will be established with a foreign direct investment of US $ 600 million.
The PFREF is of the firm view that bureaucracy shouldn’t be allowed at any cost to derail new renewable energy plants unlike the tradition especially when special forums like the SIFC have been established to ensure fast-track and hassle-free implementation of such projects involving foreign investment.
The PFREF lamented that federal bureaucracy earlier used its usual administrative tactics to unnecessarily delay approval of these projects by the cabinet of the previous Shehbaz Sharif-led government when the clean energy plants were given a go-ahead by the seven-member special ministerial committee that was formed to look into feasibilities of these projects.
The PFREF leadership says the bureaucracy with its typical mindset doesn’t like that Pakistan is making rapid progress in lessening its reliance on conventional electricity generated based on expensive imported fossil fuels. They say that any effort to increase the share of clean energy in the renewable energy mix of Pakistan will not succeed if the bureaucracy continues with its anti-people policies in the energy sector.
The efforts of the privatized K-Electric to set up clean energy projects for power consumers in Karachi have been frustrated by the same bureaucracy, they said.
In a recently sent letter to the COAS, the President of (PFREF), Mustafa Abdulla praised Gen Asim Munir for his untiring efforts to remove bureaucratic hurdles to bring Pakistan back to new heights economically and financially.
The SIFC’s Executive Committee (EC) has constituted an inter-ministerial panel to holistically review the issues of Category-III wind and solar PV projects including 13 at an advanced stage and other pending LoIs.
Category-III projects are those projects that did not acquire tariff/generation licence from Nepra till the date of CCoE decisions of February 27, 2019, and which are to be processed through competitive bidding by erstwhile Alternative Energy Development Board based on IGCEP outputs and confirmation of Interconnection Ready Zones (IRZs) by NTDCL. IGCEP 2022 allows the addition of 500 MW wind and 3,120 MW solar for the year 2025.
The sources said category III includes 31 wind projects of 2,139 MW and 69 solar PV projects of 4,193 MW. Out of 31 wind and 69 solar projects, a total of 22 wind and 28 solar projects with land are falling under IRZs.
“We just like to remind you that bureaucracy is still taking decisions in SIFC, which is supposedly a “bureaucratic free” organization,” said Mustafa Abdulla, in his letter to COAS.
The Forum’s 13 wind and solar projects were studied carefully by the SIFC lower tier, staffed with competent serving Colonels of the Pakistan Army and were forwarded to the SIFC Apex Committee for approval. However, the bureaucracy was able to “distract” its approval and sent it back for “further studies.
“Our projects have requisite approvals of LoI, land, feasibility, NTDC/CPPA-G grid, NEPRA generation licence and NEPRA Tariffs (on August 20). Our projects were also approved by a 7-member ministerial committee appointed by ex-PM Shahbaz Sharif in July 2022. However, even though the summary for approval of thirteen wind and solar projects was ready for Cabinet approval but bureaucracy thwarted the former Prime Minister’s efforts,” he wrote.
The Forum has requested COAS to intervene directly to approve the project’s low tariff Rs.12/kWh electricity projects in the larger interest of Pakistan with a $ 600 million FDI ready for investment.
Mustafa Abdulla further stated that Pakistan is suffering because of imported coal and LNG-based electricity generation at a price of Rs.40/kWh, adding that cheap wind solar electricity will lower the “basket prices and give relief to people and local Industries.”