A seven-member delegation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Board of Directors, headed by the Executive Director Maurin Sitorus, called on the Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Raghib Shah at WAPDA House on Sunday to discuss matters relating to the projects being implemented by WAPDA in water and hydropower sectors.
ADB Country Director Werner E Liepach and WAPDA Member (Power) Qasim Khan were also present on the occasion.
Giving a run down of the on-going and future schemes, the chairman said that WAPDA, in view of increasing needs of electricity and water in the country, was working on over 20 large and medium-sized projects with cumulative power generation capacity of more than 20,000 MW and water storage capacity of about 12 million acre feet (MAF). WAPDA planned to add 6,000MW low-cost hydel electricity within next five years and another 14,000 MW by the year 2020, he added.
Shah said that in addition to utilising local financial resources, the investment and the assistance by various international financial institutions was also of immense importance in implementation of these projects.
The ADB delegation said that the bank had been supportive of the projects in water and power sectors in Pakistan, adding that they would continue their cooperation to the government of Pakistan and WAPDA for the future projects as well.
