ISLAMABAD: President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI)
Shakeel Munir has said that availability of cheap energy plays key role in
promoting business and economic activities and the government should focus on
enhancing the share of hydropower in the total energy mix that would help reduce
manufacturing cost and boost business activities, industrialization & exports.
These views were expressed by him while speaking as guest of honour after
distributing awards amongst the participants of 1st International Conference on
Pakistan Hydropower Sector organized by Energy Update in collaboration with
Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB). Mian Shaukat Masud, former President
ICCI and others were present at the occasion.
Shakeel Munir said that Pakistan mostly depended on thermal power generation,
which has become very costly due to rising oil prices and was a major cause of
high cost of doing business in Pakistan. He said that the share of thermal power
was over 59 percent in total energy mix of Pakistan while the share of hydropower
was just 29 percent and urged that the government should take strong measures to
increase hydropower share up to 50 percent by 2030.
The ICCI President said that Pakistan has tremendous potential to produce plenty
of energy through renewable sources including hydro, wind and solar, which are
clean and environment friendly. He emphasized that Pakistan should exploit these
indigenous energy sources to reduce energy cost & import bill, improve
competitiveness of industry and boost exports.
He said that the government should build more dams in the country on a public-
private partnership basis to overcome the issue of water shortage and produce
clean & cheap energy.
Shakeel Munir lauded the initiative of Energy Update for organizing an
international conference on hydropower sector and hoped that it would provide a
good food for thought to the policymakers for paying more attention towards
indigenous cheap energy sources that would lay a strong foundation for the
sustainable economic growth of the country.
Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar, Chairman NEPRA Tauseef H
Farooqi, CEO PPIB Shah Jehan Mirza, Roger Gill President International
Hdropwer Association, CEO PEDO Engineer Naeem Khan and Director Energy
Office USAID Ms Jenna Diallo addressed the inaugural session of the Conference.
Earlier, Managing Editor Monthly Energy Update Naeem Qureshi welcomed the
distinguished guests and participants to the conference. Other speakers included
Mian Shaukat Masud former President ICCI, DG Hydro PPIB Munawar Iqbal,
Senior Advisor CTG NA Zuberi, CEO Star Hydro Poweer Mr Haedong Chio,
DMD NTDC Muhammad Ayub, Halima Khan GM Corporate Communications
and Marketing-Energy Update.