ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar has said that during last three years rule of the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, basic reforms aimed at ensuring sustainable development have been introduced in various sectors including energy.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he said that the government will continue these reforms during years to come.
Hammad Azhar was of the view that our economy was paralyzed after 1960 and gross domestic product (GDP) also could not grow like the other countries. Sometime, our GDP witnessed sudden increase and in next increase faced
recession, he added.
Earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fixed the market exchange rate on the direction of Finance Minister resulting increase in debts and pressure on foreign currency reserves, he said.
The federal minister said now rates were fixed as per market based exchange. The custom policy was also separated from Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and
Tax, he added.
Now, the commerce ministry fixed it which also help improvement in raw materials, he said adding it would also help promote industries in the country.
Hammad said that the country’s exports would be brought at $ 30 billion this year while Rs 6000 billion tax collection would be collected during the said period which would be a record.
He said the entire world has praised Pakistan for compliance of 26 points out of 27 given by Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The minister said new power plants were set up in past without assessing the old power plants established by Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The government renegotiated with IPPs which would bring improvement in the power sector, he added.
He said the government for the first time approved Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) model in the country under which in future power projects would be set up purely in opening competitive bidding as per the requirement.
Hammad said in past, focus was given only to generation of electricity while no attention was paid to power distribution in the country. In past, our system could not transmit around 20,000 MW while 24,700 MW electricity was transmitted during the last year, he said.
He said system could easily transmit 30,000 MW by 2023. The government has completed 4000 MW HVDC transmission line project which was only present in the papers, he added.
He said said 2nd phase of Neelum Jhelum transmission line project has also been completed yesterday which would supply electricity from Neelum Jhelum and Karot Hydrpower Projects to Sialkot and Gujrnawala districts.
The minister said yesterday, the National Assembly passed a legislation regarding SBP autonomy which was highly politicized by the opposition. In all developed countries, their State Banks were independent, he added.
Hammad said the federal government would own the entire assets of SBP while the appointment and removal of SBP governor, deputy governor and board of directors was also under the domain of the Central government. The legislation would free the SBP from politicized decisions, he added.
He said the government successfully dismantled cartelization in agriculture and enhance wheat support price to facilitate the farmers. The farmers were getting rates of Rs 250-300 per maund for their sugar cane, he added.
Regarding fuel cost adjustment, the minister said the past government installed power projects based on imported fuel including LNG and Coal which resulted in variation of fuel cost prices.
“Had the past government gives priority to build dams today we have not suffer,” he said. Hammad said that the incumbent government has declared this decade as
“decades of dams” and 10 mega dams were being set up in the country.
Under, the plan, 70-80 per cent electricity would be generated through local resources including hydel, coal, and Renewable by 2030, he added.
He said 5 GDP growth would be achieved this year while the foreign remittances would be around $ 30 billion which would be a record.
No heated exchange with Khattak: Hammad
Replying to a question, Hammad Azhar said Pervaiz Khattak has raised the issue before the Prime Minister that there was ban in new gas connection in his constituency. He said PTI was a democratic party and every member has right to speak in the party’s meeting.
Rejecting media reports of a heated exchange between him and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak over gas shortage during Thursday’s meeting of the PTI parliamentary party.
The minister said the defence minister talked about new gas connections in his constituency and was satisfied when he briefed him on the issue.
“Pervez Khattak is our elder brother and has right to say anything. The PTI is a democratic party where everyone can talk openly. This is not a party where seniors hush up if a child walks in on them,” he said.
Hammad said our gas reserves are depleting, stressing the need for looking for various options to meet the domestic energy requirements.
He said the incumbent government has introduced historic reforms in various sectors, including energy, to take the country forward. The process of reforms will continue in months and years to come to ensure sustainable
development, he said.
He pointed out that the government is focusing on improving the power transmission system. 70 to 80 per cent electricity will be produced using indigenous resources by 2030 as construction work on ten dams has started,
he added.
