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Chairman of National Business Group of FPCCI Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said the power sector is marching towards unresolvable problems while Prime Minister Imran Khan and COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa are trying their best to tackle the issue which is highly laudable.
The power sector may crumble under the burden of defective planning and wrong contracts and people, as well as the business community, hope that China will bail out Pakistan from this mess, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the government has completed talks with IPPs which will result in a saving of Rs 42 billion per annum and now it has initiated talks with Chinese companies to reduce tariffs, capacity charges and interest rates etc. which is according to the national interests.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that power plants with a capacity of 16000 megawatts were planned under CPEC, and projects with 6500 megawatts are expected to come online soon.
This will result in the burden of hundreds of billions of rupees as the country is already producing surplus electricity and completion of projects will push surplus power to 50 percent of the required electricity.
Due to the sensitivity and importance of the issue, the PM and COAS are personally handling the issue and trying to extend repayment duration from 10 to 20 years.
IN case of success Pakistan will save $500 million per annum which will be a big relief while it may reduce the tariff of electricity which is very high as compared to competing nations, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that costly energy is not in the national interests as it can reverse all the policy actions and gains therefore the business community is thankful to the government for its initiatives.
