ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
Maj.Gen. (Retd.) Khalid Mahmood, Chief Executive Officer, Foundation Wind Energy Limited, visited the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and informed the business community about the business and investment opportunities for them in the wind energy sector. Mian Akram Farid Chairman Founder Group, Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh Senior Vice President, Faheem Khan Vice President ICCI, Sheikh Amir Waheed former President, Muhammad Naveed former Senior Vice President, Col. (Retd) Naveed Akhtar Sheikh and others were present in the meeting.
Maj.Gen. (Retd) Khalid Mahmood said that there are attractive business and investment opportunities for the private sector in wind energy production and the business community should try to take advantage of them. “Wind energy is clean, environment friendly and cheaper than oil-fired power, so participation of the private sector in this field would help increase its share in the total energy mix,” he said. Talking about his company, he said that the Foundation Wind Energy Limited is currently working on two 50 MW each power plants in District Thatta of Sindh to produce cheap energy for the country. He also congratulated the newly elected Office Bearers of ICCI and expressed good wishes for them.
Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad Shakeel Munir, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the electricity generated from oil is very expensive for commercial and industrial consumers, which has increased the production cost manifold. He urged the government to focus on generating electricity from renewable energy sources including water, wind and solar, which would significantly reduce the cost of electricity and boost business & industrial activities. He said that according to some study reports, Pakistan has the potential to produce 146,000 MW of wind energy but so far no serious efforts have been made to harness this untapped potential, which is unfortunate. He stressed that the government should provide attractive incentives to the investors for setting up wind turbine manufacturing plants which would help in increasing the production of wind energy and provide affordable electricity to the people including the business community. He thanked Maj.Gen. (Retd) Khalid Mahmood for visiting ICCI and briefing the business community about investment potential in the wind power sector.
Mian Akram Farid, Chairman, Founder Group, speaking at the occasion said that industrialization is the future of Pakistan, but the high cost of electricity generated from oil is currently a major obstacle to industrial development due to which it’s difficult for the private sector to compete effectively with regional countries. He demanded that the government should reduce its dependence on oil-based power generation and focus on exploiting the wind, hydro and solar energy sources to produce affordable energy for the private sector. He further said that the government should provide tax exemption and other incentives to the private sector for investment in the wind energy sector so that the business community could help the government in generating cheap electricity by investing in this sector.
Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh Senior Vice President, Faheem Khan Vice President ICCI, Sheikh Amir Waheed, Muhammad Naveed and others also expressed their views and urged the government to generate electricity from cheap energy sources that will facilitate to boost industrialization and put the country on the path of sustainable economic growth.