The Upper House on Monday passed a resolution to allow private sector and public private partnership to install their own solar energy parks in the country with minimum 30 Mega Watts electricity generation capacity.
The resolution was laid before the house by Senator Taj Haider which won the appreciation of the senators and support of the entire house.
Senator Taj Haider presenting the resolution said that the Senate of Pakistan is cognizant of the longstanding electricity crises in the country and high electricity tariffs in the country causing heavy burden on domestic, commercial and industrial consumer.
The resolution said that “The House recommends that the government may allow public private partnership and private sector to install their own thermal, wind, coal or solar energy parks in the country with minimum thirty mega watts electricity generation capacity”.
“The House further recommends that the said energy parks may be authorized to sell electricity to the consumers on pre-determined tariff formula and install their own captive transmission and distribution grids for domestic, commercial and industrial consumers,” said the resolution.
Senator Taj Haider in support of his resolution said that power distribution companies sell the electricity to the consumers at exorbitant rates whereas they generate the same electricity on much lower and cheaper rates.
He said the government of Sindh was planning to install three solar parks in the province which would produce fourteen hundred mega watts electricity and this would go straight to the Karachi Electric (KE) which would sell it to the consumers at very high rates.
He said the constitution of Pakistan authorized the government of Sindh to produce electricity and directly sell it to the consumers but in contravention of the constitution this role was given to a private company during dictator’s rule.
He said these laws needs to be changed to provide relief and benefit to the people of Pakistan who are paying very high price for electricity.
In our neighboring country, electricity up to 300 units is provided free of cost to the consumers only because they are producing 2,400 megawatt electricity through solar energy parks.
“If the situation remains the same, our industry will be completely destroyed and they will not be able to compete with their global competitors,” said Taj Haider.—APP
