Shehbaz assures extensive efforts to ensure ease of doing business

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reaffirmed that the government was working to bring substantial cut in energy costs in future.

Addressing a ceremony on Monday, the prime minister said that a competitive industrial sector is essential for economic growth, adding  we are committed to easing the cost of doing business.

The government is under pressure to review its power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the independent power producers (IPPs) after the outcry across the country as the addition of capacity payment charges inflated the power bills beyond the affordability of the masses.

The federal cabinet, last month, approved settlement agreements with eight independent power producers (IPPs) running on bagasse. The government says the move would benefit the national exchequer by Rs238 billion.

These bagasse-based power plants included Unit II,  DW Unit I, RYK Mills, Hamza Sugar Chiniot Power, Al-Moez Industries, Thal Industries and Chinar Industries.

In October last year, separately, the prime minister had announced the pre-mature termination of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the five oldest IPPs. The move would save annual savings of Rs60 billion or around Rs411bn over the remaining term of their contracts.