he Nation/12-02-2020

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan & France successfully signed a grant financing agreement worth € 0.5 million for technical assistance to the Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB). Dr. Syed Pervaiz Abbas, Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD), and Marc BARÉTY, Ambassador of France to Pakistan, along with Philippe Steinmetz, Country Director of the French Agency for Development (AFD), signed the grant financing agreement worth € 0.5 million for technical assistance to the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB). The French grant assistance will support PPIB in its mandate of hydroelectricity sector development in Pakistan while enhancing the competitiveness of renewable power generation. The grant facility would be utilized to develop a mechanism for tariff-based bidding of hydropower projects, review of feasibility studies for hydropower projects and capacity building of the PPIB employees through specialized modules of training on financial analysis & tariff determination, project & corporate finance and technical pieces of training for operation and maintenance of the power plants.