Tag Archives: India

TAPI gets a push; financial close expected this year

on 30/06/2018

Pakistan will sign gas transportation and transit fee agreements, pipeline service rules and complete Front End Engineering Design (FEED) activities, under Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) project, during next fiscal year.

Official sources say the project activities, also signing of gas transportation agreement, pipeline service rules, transit fee agreement and completion of FEED work will be implemented during the new financial year (2018-19).

The project began making a tangible progress in Feb when it entered Afghanistan when Turkmenistan completed construction of the pipeline.

Inter State Gas Systems (Pvt) Limited (ISGSL), executing the project in Pakistan, initiated the FEED activities of the project in March last year.

A project of 1990’s witnessed many ups and downs finally got a push this time. The government made it a key component of the government’s National Energy Policy to import gas.

The pipeline would help increase power generation capacity to meet country’s future energy needs, create more jobs and strengthen national economy.

Under the project, a 56-inch diameter 1,680 km pipeline, having capacity to flow 3.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) gas, would be laid from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan up to Pak-India border, which is scheduled to complete in the year 2020. Funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Pakistan and India would be provided 1.325 bcfd gas each besides 0.5 bcfd gas for Afghanistan.Pakistan, as reports claim is expected to achieve financial close of the pipeline this year.

 

 

Siemens Gamesa wins biggest order to date in India

on 08/06/2018

Along with the turbines, Siemens Gamesa will also provide operating and maintenance services for the planned farm, to be located in Gujarat.

Siemens Gamesa, which overtook Vestas as the world’s largest wind turbine maker last year, said it won its biggest order to date in India, where a temporary downturn had previously hit the group’s profits.

The company, formed by the merger of Siemens’ wind power unit with Spain’s Gamesa, said it had agreed with Sembcorp Energy India, the Indian energy arm of Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries, to build a 300 megawatt wind park.

Along with the turbines, Siemens Gamesa will also provide operating and maintenance services for the planned farm, to be located in Gujarat, which is planned to be commissioned in April 2019.

“This contract marks a landmark in Siemens Gamesa’s strategy in India on account of both the size of the project and the technology selected,” said Ramesh Kymal, who heads Siemens Gamesa’s Indian onshore division.“Moreover, it sends a very positive signal regarding the market’s momentum and shores up our confidence in its full recovery.”Similar to other markets, India, the world fifth-largest wind power market, has undergone a shift away from subsidies and towards more competitive auctions, which led to a decline in volumes and also hurt Siemens Gamesa’s business last year.

 

World Bank to fund Peshawar-Kabul highway

on 02/05/2017

World Bank (WB) has agreed in principle to finance the mega project of building a highway between Peshawar and Kabul. This was disclosed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar after his meeting with Vice President of WB for South Asian Region Ms. Annette Dixon in Washington in April. Discussing the current economic situation in Pakistan, Dar said WB had been a great partner in the country’s development. Talking to the Pakistani delegation, Ms Dixon said WB would like to work more closely with Pakistan. She appreciated the initiatives taken by the Pakistani government for putting economy on the path of sustainable economic development. During the course of discussion, Dar proposed to WB to finance a major project of constructing a highway from Peshawar to Kabul for improving regional connectivity. The World Bank has agreed in principle to finance the project. Dar also proposed that WB might consider leading a consortium to finance Diamer Bhasha Project. Dar said the government took concrete measures to bring structural changes for the sustainable economic development in the country. The minister said the government had established a Micro Finance Company to extend such facilities to the poorer segments of the society. He informed WB team that Pakistan was one of the leading countries for ensuring financial development in the country and for this purpose a strategy had been devised which was being implemented thoroughly. He said 10 more laws were being enacted which aimed at further facilitating the private sector. In response to a question about policy reforms in Pakistan, he remarked that the parliament had so far passed 24 laws to create conducive and enabling environment for growth and private sector investment. In yet another communication, WB Group President Jim Yong Kim has said that the multilateral lender does not plan to change its stance on financing alternative energy projects and mitigating the effects of climate change. Asked about the Trump administration’s scepticism about climate change at a news conference, Kim said WB would continue to work with governments and the private sector to boost financing for alternative energy, especially in China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan and Vietnam. “The science of climate change didn’t change with any particular election, and I don’t see that it will,” Kim said. “We have to be an evidence-based organisation,” he added.