Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar Wednesday lauded Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) support in pursuing reforms agenda and various development projects for the country.
The minister held a meeting with Asian Development Bank Vice President (Operations) Shixin Chenfor. Both sides broadly discussed the ADB’s energy program in Pakistan and the government’s energy reforms.
The minister expressed satisfaction with the firm commitment of ADB as a key partner in reforms agenda in priority sectors including energy.
Various projects in the power sector are moving forward at a good pace including the Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system to be rolled out as a pilot project in the IESCO region, projects in NTDC and DISCOs. Azhar stressed the need to expedite the Jamshoro project and special attention from ADB’s side. The pre-feasibility study for the underground gas storages is also expected to be completed in a year.
The positive progress on circular debt management of the power sector was shared by the ministry. The structural benchmarks have been met and International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also shown satisfaction. The circular debt management plan is being updated together with the approval of Subsidy Reforms Phase- II.
