ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari Saturday said power and energy was most critical for economic development of the country and directed swift measures to end load shedding and power shortages on war footing.

During a detailed presentation on “International Competitive Bidding for New IPP and Rental Power Projects on Fast Track” the President asked the Ministry and Planning Commission to consider new and innovative models to attract international investment in energy sector.

The presentation team was led by Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf.

The President asked the team to study the models of other countries that have addressed their power crisis through international investments.

He said setting up of dedicated power plants for specialized sectors like the industrial units should also be given consideration.

The President evinced keen interest in the measures taken for resolving the power crisis in Karachi and asked that the required steps be taken expeditiously.

He said that he will chair another meeting on the power situation in Karachi and other parts of the country that had been affected by electricity shortages that have had a negative impact on the national economy and caused hardships for the people.

The progress made and the issues involved in raising of Mangla dam and de-silting of Tarbela dam were also discussed during the meeting.

Earlier the federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf mentioned the steps taken so far to end load shedding by the end of next year.

He thanked the President for his support to end load shedding in the country.

The meeting was informed that the entire bidding process was completed by the PPIB in a record time of 117 days after Cabinet’s decision of May 14 to invite bids for 1,000 MW IPPs and 500 MW Rental Projects as against almost one year taken normally by such bidding process.

As a result of encouraging response, 42 requests for proposals had been issued to the interested sponsors and investors.

The presentation reflected that a total of twelve bids were received by the bid submission deadline and the evaluation of bids was conducted under a completely transparent process and was submitted before ECC on September 10 after due deliberations by a cabinet Sub-Committee.

As a result ECC approved three IPPs of 929 MW and two Rental Projects of 437 MW. Following the approval NEPRA was advised to approve the tariff of the aforesaid approved projects, in accordance with the provisions of government’s guidelines for determination of tariff for IPPs.

The meeting was attended by Salman Farooqi, Deputy Chairman Planning, Muhammad Ismail Qureshi, Secretary Water and Power Shakeel Durrani, Chairman WAPDA Khalid Saeed, Chairman NEPRA Navid Ismail, Chief Executive KESC Fazal Ahmad Khan, MD PEPCO and Fayyaz Ellahi MD PPIB.