Peshawar, 11 June 2022 (TDI): EnerTech Holding of Kuwait and Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province inked three letters of intent to collaborate on renewable energy projects.
The projects will help the province’s cities flourish sustainably. The agreements were signed during a ceremony at the Chief Minister’s office.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister of KP Mahmood Khan, speaking on the occasion, claimed his administration had signed 44 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth $8 billion with foreign investment companies during the Dubai Expo.
Chief Minister also expressed his gratitude to EnerTech Holding for investing in the province and stated that the provincial government would provide full assistance to the company.
Furthermore, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Minister of Finance said “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provides immense investment potential, which, if leveraged in a methodical, organized, and transparent manner, can unleash a series of investments in the province”
“For a long time, the Planning and Development Department has been formulating and contributing to policy level inputs for the provincial and sectoral development policies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
It has resulted in leveraging private investment in the province,” said Shahab Ali Shah, Additional Chief Secretary Planning & Development, KP.
The Project
The 84MW Matiltan hydropower project and the 69MW Lawi hydropower project are among the proposed project locations, with a total investment of $250 million. In Khanpur, the business will build a satellite and smart city in addition to investing $750 million.
EnerTech is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the world’s oldest sovereign wealth fund, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Technology and Enterprise Company (NTEC).
EnerTech Holding signed a number of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the Government of KP, including ones on green hydrogen development and use.
Likewise, they also signed agreements on urban development, food processing, and integrated tourism zones (ITZs), among other things, prior to Dubai Expo 2020.
Pakistan-Kuwait cooperation
According to 2020 figures, Kuwaiti exports to Pakistan are currently worth $824 million. Despite the fact that Pakistan exports $195 million to Kuwait, the two nations have committed to increasing their commerce to $1 billion per year in the next two to three years.
Kuwait was also the first country to provide relief to isolated mountain settlements in Kashmir following the 2005 earthquake, and it provided the highest amount of aid ($100 million).
In addition, following the floods in Pakistan in 2010, Kuwait’s government lifted a longstanding restriction on public money collection. Pakistan sent hundreds of medical personnel to Kuwait during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Given the problems of climate change, rising prices of traditional fuels, sustainable urban development, and food security, these investments mark a major change for KP and signal a new era of growth in bilateral relations between Pakistan and Kuwait.