U.S. to support Pakistan to add at least 3,000 MW of clean power

Pakistan has been facing a shortage of energy which is limiting the economic development of the country. The U.S. has also helped in construction of roads enabling trade, security, and mobility.

NEW YORK: Giving a major relief to Pakistan, which has been facing chronic shortage of energy, severely limiting economic development, the United States will support Pakistan to add at least 3,000 megawatts of clean power generation infrastructure to Pakistan’s national electricity system by 2020. The U.S. assistance to Pakistan is being provided under U.S.-Pakistan Clean Energy Partnership,  through which the USAID will support capacity building, technical assistance, USAID Development Credit Authority financial guarantees, business-to-business sales arrangements, and the construction of transmission lines to private projects to stimulate increased levels of private investment in clean power.
 
The U.S. has already made more than 2,400 megawatts available to Pakistan’s electricity grid, benefiting some 28 million Pakistanis, and has helped Pakistan take steps to reform its troubled energy sector since 2009. The U.S. has also funded the refurbishment or construction of nearly 1,100 kilometers of roads, enabling trade, security, and mobility.
 
The U.S.State Department said this in its latest report on Terrorism, in which it has also accused and listed Pakistan for not taking substantial action against terror groups.
 
However on other side Washington continue to build strong cooperation with Pakistan on energy, economic growth including agriculture, education and health, according to the U.S. State Department’s 2016 annual Country Reports on Terrorism.
 
 
“The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) on-budget investments in energy generation, facilitated by the Energy Policy Program (EPP), contributed to increasing generation capacity, energy production, and the reliability of power. EPP helped Pakistan develop the contractual framework that led to the first importation of liquefied natural gas,” report says.
 
It further says, “In 2016, the United States continued to focus on five sectors determined in consultation with the Pakistani government in 2011. Energy, economic growth including agriculture, stabilization of areas vulnerable to violent extremism, education and health with emphasis on improving democracy, governance, and gender equity are integrated into programming across the five sectors”.
 
The report stated that U.S. assistance has helped Pakistan improve governance and management systems, and increase the country’s distribution companies’ revenue collection by more than US $400 million, as well as provide commercial opportunities for U.S. businesses. The United States continued to fund infrastructure rehabilitation projects, especially in clean energy, and provided technical assistance to Pakistani energy institutions, including distribution companies, to increase power generation and improve performance.
The U.S. has also trained more than 5,600 police and 1,000 prosecutors across Pakistan; provided scholarships to approximately 15,000 Pakistanis to attend Pakistani universities, 50 percent of whom were women; and supplied better access to comprehensive family planning services to more than 100,000 women since 2009.
 
In 2016, the United States continued to build strong cooperation with Pakistan, including through U.S. assistance, as a stable, secure, prosperous, and democratic Pakistan is in the long-term U.S. national security interest.
 
Although assistance levels have declined in recent years, to support this partnership, the United States has allocated civilian and security assistance totaling US $8.4 billion since 2009. U.S. security assistance to Pakistan is designed to build Pakistan’s counterterrorism and counterinsurgency capacity.
 
In addition, since 2001, the Department of Defense has reimbursed nearly US $14 billion in Coalition Support Funds for Pakistani expenditures in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Since 2009, the United States has committed about US $5 billion in civilian assistance to Pakistan, in addition to more than US $1 billion for emergency humanitarian assistance.
 
 
Through a range of programs and public-private partnerships in agriculture and other sectors of Pakistan’s economy, U.S. assistance helped Pakistan create jobs and foster economic growth. USAID programming will improve the financial and operating performance of at least 6,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a maximum of seven industrial, manufacturing, and service sectors. In June 2016 in New York, the U.S. and Pakistan governments convened the fourth U.S.-Pakistan Business Opportunities Conference.
 

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