ISLAMABAD: One of Pakistan’s largest domestic cement producers, Lucky Cement, will set up a hybrid wind and solar power project under the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), state media said on Monday.
Private investment is low and declining in Pakistan, which has very low rates of private investment relative to regional and comparable countries, around one-third of the South Asia average, according to World Bank data released in 2023. Private investment declined from an average of 13.7 percent of GDP in the 2000s to around 10 percent in FY21.
The government set up the SIFC last year to attract foreign investment and also create better conditions and remove bottlenecks for domestic companies who have historically faced unfair competition from state-owned entities undertaking commercial operations and received little support when seeking to access new overseas markets.
“Special Investment Facilitation Council is supporting private companies for development of energy sector,” Radio Pakistan reported. “As part of these efforts, Lucky Cement has planned a hybrid wind and solar power project which will generate environment friendly electricity.”
In the past, Lucky Cement has commissioned a 42.8 MW solar power plant in Karachi.
Power consumption in Pakistan has declined 8-10 percent year on year over the past three quarters, according to energy ministry data. Power consumption is a significant economic indicator in the developing economy and another expected decline this year underscores challenges facing the newly elected government in debt-laden Pakistan, amid growing discontent among the poor.
Poor and middle class households are still feeling the impact of the International Monetary Fund’s bailout of Pakistan last year, which contributed to rising retail prices including fuel and electricity charges.
Power cuts are also frequent in Pakistan, especially in far flung rural areas, due to grid issues, delays in importing fuel and hard currency shortages, though the frequency of such outages have reduced in the recent months.