ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday energy reforms would be part of the annual budget for fiscal year 2023-24, due to be presented on June 9.
The South Asian nation, which is battling a wrenching economic crisis and is in dire need of funds, is seeking to reduce the value of its fuel imports and protect itself from geopolitical shocks.
Power outages remain common in Pakistan, with a grid problem earlier this year plunging 220 million people into darkness for a whole day and disrupting commercial activity. Excess fossil fuel energy capacity also is boosting electricity costs — and raising questions about whether the country will now manage to achieve its climate change goals, with scientists saying coal needs to rapidly disappear from the world’s energy mix to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.
“The Prime Minister decided to make energy reforms part of the budget,” state-run Radio Pakistan reported after Sharif chaired a meeting on budget proposals.
“He said that renewable energy projects should be started by reducing reliance on the expensive imported fuel in a gradual manner … effective measures should be proposed in the next budget in order to control line losses and electricity theft.”
Sharif said wind and solar energy projects should be included in the upcoming budget and ongoing solarization projects in the country should be expedited.
“Emphasizing the importance of an efficient transmission system, he said power transmission projects should be completed at the earliest … transformer metering should be made part of the next budget for the elimination of line losses and the pilferage of electricity,” Radio Pakistan said.
In 2020, then Prime Minister Imran Khan promised Pakistan by 2030 would produce 60 percent of its electrical power from renewable sources.
Currently the country gets 64 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels, with another 27 percent from hydropower, 5 percent from nuclear power and just 4 percent from renewables such as solar and wind.
