A group of investors has sought help from Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir to remove bureaucratic hurdles in the installation of 13 wind and solar projects of 600 MWp with an investment of $ 600 million, Business Recorder reported on Thursday.

Pakistan Foreign Renewable Energy Forum (PFREF) President Mustafa Abdulla has penned a letter to the COAS, reported the leading business daily of the country.

The group is working on Category-III wind and solar PV projects including 13 at an advanced stage and other pending letters of intent (LOIs).

Category-III projects are those projects that did not acquire tariff/generation licence from Nepra till the date of CCoE decisions of February 27, 2019 and which are to be processed through competitive bidding by erstwhile Alternative Energy Development Board based on IGCEP outputs and confirmation of Interconnection Ready Zones (IRZs) by NTDCL. IGCEP 2022 allows the addition of 500-MW wind and 3,120-MW solar for the year 2025.

The projects were studied carefully by the SIFC lower tier, staffed with competent servings Colonels of the Pakistan Army and forwarded to the SIFC Apex Committee for approval. However, the bureaucracy was able to “distract” its approval and sent it back for “further studies”, Abdulla said in the letter.