The meeting of CCoE was held under the chair of Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar in which two agenda items were discussed.
Sources told ProPakistani that the cabinet committee has shown annoyance with the FIA officials for not fulfilling the deadlines in submitting the forensic audit report on the petroleum crisis.
FIA was supposed to submit the report in three months (June 26, 2021) however the report has not been submitted so far sources further revealed that Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are lodged harassment complaints against the FIA.
A handout issued by the planning commission states that CCoE also was briefed by the FIA on the progress of the investigation of the shortage of petroleum products in the country in June 2020.
The CCoE expressed its concerns over the delay in report finalization. FIA briefed the Committee on the progress made so far and ensured that substantial progress on findings will be shared with CCoE by the end of September.
On the other hand, Power Division presented the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan – known as IGCEP 2021-30, an indicative annual plan prepared by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), as per the National Electricity Policy (NEP) approved by the CCI.
IGCEP envisions the commissioning of a portfolio of new generation projects, including many hydropower projects, Thar coal-based projects, K-3 nuclear power plant, and over 4,000MW of solar and wind-based renewable energy projects.
Under the approved IGCEP, the generation mix of 2022, which is dominated by fossil fuel, will shift to clean energy (hydel, Solar, Wind, Nuclear) by the year 2030. Moreover, for the same period, the indigenous fuel-based generation against the imported fuel-based generation is going to improve from 69 percent to 87 percent of the total fuel-based generation.
After detailed consultations with all the provincial governments, the CCoE approved the IGCEP 2021-30. All the federal and provincial projects already under implementation will be completed as per the commitments.
There was consensus on the principle of new generation capacity addition only based on the least-cost basis. Such planning will target optimum future capacity addition at the most affordable cost, ensuring the cheapest electricity for consumers.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance, Minister for Interior, Minister for Energy, Minister for Maritime Affairs, Minister for Railways, Minister for S& T, Finance Minister KP, SAPM on Power, Petroleum & Revenue. Representatives of regulatory authorities and senior officials of Ministries/Divisions also participated in the meeting.
Source: Pro Pakistani