KARACHI: The Sindh Energy department signed an agreement with private firms to launch the World Bank-sponsored $105 million Sindh Solar Energy Project (SSEP).
The signing ceremony was attended by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Minister for Energy Imtiaz Shaikh, Minister of Information Saeed Ghani, Advisor to CM Murtaza Wahab, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Energy Secretary Musadiq Khan, Finance Secretary Hassan Naqvi, Hyderabad Electric Company (HESCO) CEO Abdul Haq Memon, CEO Foresight Ltd Zubair Ahmed, World Bank senior energy specialists Oliver Knight, Anjum Ahmed, Umul Awan, Kazim Saeed, Project Director (PD) SSEP Mehfooz Ahmed Qazi, Shaikh Amer Zia, Asmar Naim and Khayyam Siddiqui of K-Electric, Aijaz Rizvi of AID Private Company and others.
Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh said that $100 million in assistance will be provided by the World Bank while the Sindh government would generate $5 million for the project.
He said that addition to K-Electric, HESCO, and SEPCO along with other private firms have been contracted to take part in the implementation of the project. He also that the project director (PD) for SSEP had been hired and that preliminary work was already underway.
According to reports, the project comprises three components:
A 400MW solar park which would be established at Manjhand costing $40 million. 20MW rooftop solar systems on public sector buildings in Karachi and Hyderabad for $25 million.
The third component is 200,000 solar home systems for remote areas in 10 districts of the province through solar parks costing $30 million. Through this project, the provision of solar electricity would be made available to over 200,000 houses which are currently out of grid zones.
Imtiaz Shaikh told the chief minister that in order to implement all three components of the SSEP, contracts have been finalized under World Bank guidelines. The transactional advisor has been directed to carry out competitive bidding. A survey would be conducted to identify government buildings and to prepare bills of quantities to install solar systems on rooftops.
A household survey firm has been contracted to carry out a survey in the 10 districts with reference to energy consumption in both off-grid and on-grid areas of the province.
The chief minister said that after implementation of SSEP over Rs500 million would be saved in electricity bills.
SINDH GOVT, DENMARK TO LAUNCH CLEAN ENERGY PROJECT:
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in his follow up meeting with Danish Ambassador Rolf Michael Hay Perreira agreed to sign a government to government agreement (Sindh govt and Demark govt) to launch renewable energy projects in the province.
The Danish ambassador was accompanied by Trade Commissioner Ali Mushtaq Butt and they agreed to make necessary arrangements to tackle the province’s crippling energy crisis.
Briefing the meeting, Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh said that Sindh is one of the few places that has a vastly developed wind corridor.
The Danish ambassador was told that the federal government has approved 14 Wind Power projects while 25 new projects’ approval are in the pipeline.
CM Murad Shah invited the Danish Ambassador to avail of the opportunity of generating 50,000MW wind energy.
The ambassador directed his trade commissioner to coordinate with concerned departments of the Sindh government to materialize the investment opportunity.