Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park

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Quaid e Azam Solar Park
قائد اعظم سولر پارک
CountryPakistan
LocationBahawalpur, Punjab
Coordinates29°19′09″N 71°49′25″E / 29.319046°N 71.823661°E / 29.319046; 71.823661Coordinates: 29°19′09″N 71°49′25″E / 29.319046°N 71.823661°E / 29.319046; 71.823661
Status400 MWp completed
Commission dateMarch 2015 (1st phase of 100 MWp)
Construction cost$131.15 Million (1st phase)
Owner(s)Govt. of Punjab through its 100% subsidiary QA Solar Co.
Operator(s)QA Solar
Solar farm
TypeFlat-panel PV
Collectors392,158 (phase I)
Total collector area400 acres (1st phase). Total park is 6,500 acres
Site resource1920 kWh/m2/yr
Site area6,500 acres (2,600 ha)[1]
Power generation
Units operational400 MWp
Annual net output1530 GW·h (expected) for 100MWp 1st phase
External links
Websiteqasolar.com
CommonsRelated media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

The Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park (Urdu: قائد اعظم سولر پارک) is a photovoltaic power station in Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan, named in honor of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. In 2013, Government of Punjab, Pakistan developed the infrastructure of a 6,500 acre solar park near Bahawalpur to be able to accommodate 1,000 MWp solar power generation. The government committed to develop the first 100 MWp solar plant as a pilot project to demonstrate its viability that would attract private investors to invest for the remaining 900 MWp. The First Phase pilot plant of 100 MWp was constructed and commissioned in May 2015 at a cost of $131.15 million. It spans 500 acres (200 ha) and utilizes 392,158 solar modules. The project was immensely successful and attracted great attention from numerous domestic and international investors. However, due to opposition from competing technology power plants, political considerations and a lack of policy from the federal government, eventually only 400 MWp power generation was completed (100 MWp owned by Government of Punjab and 300 MWp by a private investor Zonergy) and the park is open to investment for the remaining capacity if the federal government will provide enabling incentives to potential investors.

Background and operation[]

History of QA Solar Park and QA Solar Power Pvt Ltd.[]

The project of solar powered park was approved by Government of Punjab, Pakistan on August, 2013.[2] In Sept 2013, Govt of Punjab signed an MOU with TBEA SunOasis of China to set up a 1000MWp solar power plant. This led to the establishment of the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park site near Bahawalpur. In late 2013, Canadian Solar Company also signed an MOU with Punjab government for setting up 500 MWp solar powered park as an investor with $175 Million. However, Canadian Solar did not pursue this investment option.[3] Government of Punjab decided to initially establish a 100MWp pilot project (Phase-1) before proceeding with the 1000MWp complete capacity at QA Solar Park, Bahawalpur and established its wholly owned company QA Solar Pvt Ltd for this purpose. In compliance with PPRA rules, a rigorous technical, commercial and financial evaluation of international EPC contractors led to pre-qualification of twelve major international EPC companies for bidding. Tender was floated in December 2013 and six of the pre-qualified companies submitted competitive bids for the contract of Phase-1 construction of the 100 MWp project, which was awarded to the lowest qualified bidder TBEA Xinjiang SunOasis Co. Ltd. of China[4] at an EPC contract price of $131.15 million and a 25-year maintenance contract of around $73 million, a total of $215 million. The Letter of Acceptance was issued on April 4, 2014, but the actual EPC and O&M contract was signed on June 2, 2014. A ground breaking ceremony of the site was conducted in May 2014 by Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif even before the contract was signed.

The 100MWp project was completed within the scheduled nine months as per the contract and was commissioned at the end of March 2015.[5] and was inaugurated on 5 May 2015 by Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif[6] in a well publicized ceremony at Bahawalpur.[7] Not only was the construction and commissioning of the project completed within the contractual period, there were no cost over-runs either. The total cost remained within the contract price of $131.15 million with no extensions in cost or time.

100 MWp QA Solar Power (QASP) project (Phase-1)[]

Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (Pvt) Ltd (QASP) is a wholly owned company of the Government of Punjab. It was established to build and operate the first pilot 100 MWp solar power plant, which is located in the desert area of Lal Sohanra, Cholistan, Bahawalpur. The power plant is situated around 10 km from Bahawalpur airport. It was the first ever major utility grade solar power plant built in Pakistan. The project was commissioned in March 2015 at a total cost of $131.15 million,.[8] An equity of 30% was injected by the owner Government of Punjab, Pakistan and financed 70% by Bank of Punjab. The turnkey construction (EPC) of the project was done by TBEA Xinjiang SunOasis Co. Ltd.[9][10] The land for the project is provided by the Government of Punjab at a lease of $1 per acre per year.

The initial project plan was to build 1000 MWp. The first phase of project 100 MWp was installed over an area of 500 acres. The PV area has 392,158 solar modules of 255 Wp each, nearly 10,000 solar arrays of 40 modules each, 1,400 combiner boxes, 100 centralized inverters of 1 MW each, 100 transformers of 1 MVA each at 33kV, all of these linked through a network of thousands of kilometers of cables. The arrays are fixed to the ground using 140,000 screw piles. There is no concrete foundation. The EPC contract included provision of a 132kV substation which includes 2 transformers of 100 MVA each at 132 kV. The substation area also includes 100MVA switchgear and VAR protection along with a state of the art DCS and SCADA control system. The 132KV electrical output of the power plant is connected to the NTDC national grid via a 132kV transmission line that runs through the Solar Park.[11]

The initial feasibility study for the solar park and the pilot plant were done by Engineering Consultancy Services Punjab (Pvt) Ltd,[12] while the technical consultants and owner's engineer for the project were ILF Consulting Engineers [13] of Germany. The Bank of Punjab employed 8.2 Ingenieurpartnerschaft Obst & Ziehmann of Germany [14] as the technical consultant and engineer on behalf of the bank. The legal consultants were Haidermota & Co.[15] while the financial consultants were Grant Thornton.[16]

The process of procurement, manufacturing, engineering, logistics, installation and commissioning was done at international standards and a rigorous scheme was put into place in the contract which was based on international FIDIC terms and conditions. The contractor was required to provide a 25-year performance guarantee in the form of a bank guarantee to ensure the quality and the estimated output of the plant.

All the solar panels and inverters were tested independently for quality and specifications at the manufacturing plants and again at the Bahawalpur solar site by PV Lab - Germany,[17] while the transformers and switchgear were tested independently at the manufacturing plants prior to shipment by TÜV SÜD Czech.[18]

Due to the high quality of the products and systems, the solar power plant has been overperforming against its targets ever since it was built. Following are the actual results of energy production:[8]

Phase-II Construction and Investment[]

Upon successful completion of the first 100MWp, Government of Punjab, Pakistan, decided that it would not invest in the remaining 900MWp for which the land had been developed in the solar park. Instead, it chose to invite private power companies to invest, and also expressed in interest to divest its share in the first plant of 100MWp to the private sector as well. Several private local and multinational companies expressed an interest to invest after seeing the success of the pilot 100MWp.

Thus, the second phase of project started in September 2015 by issuance of a Letter of Intent (LOI) to Zonergy, a subsidiary of ZTE, telecommunication giant of China who promised to invest the total $1.5 billion for 900MWp. However, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) criticised the award of the LOI for rushing through the competitive bidding process in just one week's time.[19] The central contract cell of WAPDA surmised that "Entire deal is shrouded in mystery and would create legal and contractual problems for everyone."

Earlier, ZTE the mother company of Zonergy had failed to win the EPC contract for the 100 MWp, first-phase of the solar park which had been won and executed by TBEA through a transparent process. Thus, Government of Punjab, Pakistan was confident that it had a strong case because it had not shown any favor to ZTE in the first phase either. Opposition political parties took the government to Supreme Court of Pakistan in November 2014, on claims of violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and fast track award of the Letter of Intent.[20] Anwar Kamal, a legal expert, claimed that, "accepting high risk bank guarantees creating rights for the investor will haunt Punjab government in future."[19] The federal bodies that had hindered investment in alternate energy technologies and solar technologies were totally ignored and Punjab government proceeded at full pace to promote clean energy and alternate technologies. It was noted that during the process of award, several renowned power firms were unable to match the offer and terms and the letter of intent for investment was given to Zonergy after competitive evaluation of all the applications made to the Government of Punjab, Pakistan.[21] After thorough review of the case, the Supreme Court of Pakistan exonerated the government and allowed Zonergy to proceed with the investment.

Subsequent to the failed litigation against Government of Punjab, Pakistan, Zonergy Company Ltd committed to invest $1.5 billion for 900 MWp project, with 300 MWp to be completed in Phase 2 and further 600 MWp to be completed in Phase 3. Thus, along with the first 100 MWp already installed and owned by QASP, this would approach the planned 1000 MWp for the solar park.[21] In June 2015, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif announced that the Phase-2 300 MWp production will start at the end of 2015, and entire 1000 MWp power plant should be in full energy production by 2016.[22] To follow the operation closely, he appointed Ahad Cheema, a grade 20 officer, who was working as director general of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), as executive officer of the project.[23] In a follow up meeting in July 2015, Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif directed project stakeholders/owners Zonergy to expedite the work and complete the 300 MWp production phase by end of 2015 and the entire 1000 MWp by April 2016.[24][25]

However, while Zonergy was in the process of installing Phase-2 300 MWp portion, the Federal Government revoked the promised tariff announcing a drastic tariff reduction for the remaining 600 MWp, putting that portion of investment in jeopardy. The matter remained in litigation, and Zonergy ended up completing only 300 MWp which started commercial operations (COD) in May 2016. The total investment for this 300 MWp was 3.125 billion Chinese Yuan.[26] The company was unable to invest in the balance Phase-3 600 MWp although it still holds the license for it.

Interest by Turkish companies[]

In January 2017, a Turkish company Zorlu Enerji also showed interest to develop 100 MWp project in 6 months at the QA Solar Park site and was granted a letter of intent (LOI) by the Government of Punjab.[27][28] In February 2018, Zorlu Enerji again showed their interest in similar venture; however, the project was unable to reach financial close due to various reasons of upfront tariff energy purchase agreement disagreements.[29] Zorlu Enerji has been operating in the province of Sindh since 2013 when it established a 56.4 MWp wind power plant near Jhimpir.[30] This would have been its second major venture in the alternate energy field in Pakistan if it had reach financial close.

Operations, Achievements and Privatization[]

Despite the fact that the initial 100MWp had superlative performance exceeding the production projected by NEPRA, opposition to the Government of Punjab initiative in solar energy continued in different quarters. The Federal Ministry of Power, the opposition parties and media affiliated with these groups rallied to try to find fault with this initiative, claiming that the plant was not producing up to the mark. This was despite the fact that the federal agencies had published data that the plant was actually operating above planned capacity.

Achievements and Operational hurdles[]

As noted earlier, since its inception, the 100MWp pilot plant has been producing energy at between 5-7% above the NEPRA planned capacity. This was despite several factors that are unfavorable due to the environment at Bahawalpur. The result have been a high performance and good profits for the government from this project.

The profits of the plant over the past few years as per audited statements are as follows:[31]

  • 2015-2016 – Rs. 1.1015 billion
  • 2016-2017 – Rs. 1.389 billion
  • 2017-2018 – Rs. 1.138 billion
  • 2018-2019 – Rs. 1.786 billion

These same audited statements show that the net profit was almost half of the cost of sales in 2018–2019. The earnings per share in 2018-2019 was Rs. 4.69 which is around 47%. Based on this, it is clear that the net cost of electricity production after paying all finance costs, taxes and depreciation of plant would be in the range of Rs.6 to Rs.7 per KWh, which is less than half the average cost of electricity produced through other technologies.

Since these profits accrue to the Government of Punjab, these have been used for betterment of other infrastructure projects in the province.[8]

Some of the operational difficulties in this area were as follows:

  1. Bahawalpur is desert terrain, having high dust count, which could potentially hamper the efficiency of panels. Critics and opposition media claimed that it required 30 people to clean panels within 15 days to restore the panels back to their full capacity, saying that it had reduced production of installed 100 MWp plant to below 18 MWp.[32][33] The actual production numbers recorded with WAPDA showed that this concern of the media was false. As the cleaning of the panels was perfected, the plant output exceeded all such claims by the media and opposition. They also claimed that the 400,000 installed panels required 124 million litres of water (enough to sustain 9000 people) while rain in the Cholistan desert is rare and far between. This was also a false flag. The plant uses ground water from within the site which is brackish and not meant for consumption by human beings. And the quantity of water required is relatively small. The plant has not caused any shortage of water for the city of Bahawalpur or for the villages around.
  2. The temperature of Bahawalpur rises above 45 degrees Celsius at the peak of summer but it also falls to very low temperature in the winter. It is typical of a desert climate.[34] Solar panels are designed ideally to operate at 25 degrees Celsius.[35][36] This derating factor was taken into consideration when planning the project, and it was included in the production projections of NEPRA and the tariff calculations. The problems of high temperature at Bahawalpur are far less as compared to similar problems in Saudi Arabia, UAE and other equatorial and tropical countries where the high temperature sustains for much longer periods and where solar power has been very successful.
  3. Critics of the project claimed that unlike other solar plants, QASP was unable to achieve balanced recurring operational expenses (OPEX) due to low power production against the expected 100 MWp.[37] This was also proven wrong as the audited statements of QASP show a high return and exceptionally high energy production.

Upfront Tariff granted by NEPRA[]

During initial hearings of NEPRA in January 2014, it was proposed by the German consultants GIZ to set the Upfront Tariff at 23.2934 US cents/KWh.[38] The GIZ proposal included a proposed Upfront Tariff of US cents 26.9268/kWh for first ten years and US cents 12.7106/kWh for the remaining 15 years. Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB) considered this GIZ proposal to be very high and wanted to reduce it to be in line with international tariffs which were in the range of 15-17 US cents/KWh as suggested by other consultants. The Government of Punjab objected to these proposed high tariffs and sought to bring it down to 13-14 US cents/KWh which were relatively lower than NEPRA's working. Other private investors argued for higher tariffs.[38] After deliberation, NEPRA announced on 21 January 2014, a levelized tariff over 25 years of 17.0060 US cents/KWh for the North region, and 16.3063 US cents/KWh for the South region.[38]

After Quaid-e-Azam Solar (QA Solar) signed the EPC contract with TBEA SunOasis in June 2014, the company requested NEPRA to review the upfront tariff of January 2014, which it considered to be excessively high. QA Solar provided its working of the actual costs and along with AEDB they requested to bring the tariff down. After several meetings and deliberations, NEPRA issued a new upfront tariff determination on 22 January 2015. The new levelized tariff was 14.1516 US cents/KWh for the South region and 14.7588 US cents/KWh for North region. These tariffs were adjustable and indexed against four parameters, namely an adjustment for relevant foreign currency fluctuation for the portion of payment in the relevant foreign currency, adjustment in Insurance as per actual, indexation of Return on Equity (ROE), indexation applicable to O&M, indexation for LIBOR Variation.[39] With these adjustments and indexations, the actual upfront levelized tariff for QA Solar Power Co Ltd was brought down to around 12 US cents/KWh as witnessed through its audited statements.

Critics of the project and opposition media claimed that QASP produced too little power at too much cost, saying that it had the second highest per unit cost in Pakistan after the Nandipur Power Project. This claim was also not true. As pointed above, the levelized tariff of 14 US cents per KWh was reduced to around 12 US cents per KWh after indexation and adjustments. As against this, the average cost of electricity production in Pakistan was around 15 US cents. The average cost at all the thermal power plants in Pakistan was closer to 20 US cents which got balanced in the national average due to the hydro electric power plants. The actual cost of production of QASP is much lower which is demonstrated in the fact that it is generating an annual profit of over Rs. 1 billion every year which goes back into the government exchequer and spent for projects that benefit the Pakistani citizen. It is not pocketed by a private investor.

With falling cost of solar systems subsequently, opponents started comparing 2016 and 2017 costs of EPC with the global 2013 costs, and demanding that QA Solar tariff should be reduced despite the fact that the investment had been made.[40][41] For example, solar prices in India touched INR 2.42 with decrease in cost in solar production.[42] NEPRA in September 2016 tried to reduced the tariff from Rs. 14.5 per unit to Rs 9.25 per unit, maintaining that cost of solar production had reduced sharply in the last 4 years and besides it is much lower in other parts of the world.[43] However, Zonergy threatened to withdraw from Phase-2 and Phase-3 of project, and asked the Chief Minister of Punjab to pressure NEPRA. After signaling to withdraw its commitment of 900 MWpextension, she went into litigation over the matter.[44][45] Finally, the scores were settled attributing subsidy contributed by Ministry of Water and Power. With previous high debt of the government due to fuel costs for thermal power plants, the circular debt kept climbing. However this was not attributable to the solar power plants. In February 2017 Ministry of Water and Power accepted that Rs.100 billion is paid each year as subsidy in the power sector while Rs. 200 billion is paid by consumers as various surcharges to cover the added fuel costs of thermal plants.[46] Nevertheless, the oil and gas sector tried to cover up the cost of debt accumulated in the thermal sector by trying to lay the blame on alleged high solar tariff despite decrease in solar production costs. Dr. Farrukh Saleem criticised by claiming that the QASP tariff was Rs. 18 (which was not the case as per the tariff determination) and compared it with the newer solar plants in India which had been installed recently in 2019 such as Rewa Ultra Mega Solar in Madhya Pradesh, where the tariff is equivalent to Pakistani Rs. 5.19.[47] The comparison is totally misleading. On the other hand, QA Solar still fared much better. The real cost of production of Rs. 6-7 per KWh as shown in the audited statements of QA Solar was never shown by the critics who tried to inflate its numbers. The injection of QA Solar profits into other public sector projects was also ignored by them.

Plans of privatization[]

The initial 100 MWp plant was commissioned in May 2015,[48] and was constructed by TBEA Xinjiang SunOasis Co. Ltd. It was decided by the government in June 2017 to privatize the solar power plant,[49] as the plant was operating very efficiently and would yield good capital gains for the government. In 2017, nine companies were prequalified to submit bids for privatization of Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (Private) Limited. Opponents of the government insinuated that there is a controversy because one of the companies pre-qualified namely Jahangir Siddiqui & Co Ltd (JSCL) owned by Ali Jehangir Siddiqui is a business partner and close friend of Sharif family.[50] It was also feared that entire tax exception awarded to privatization of the project was being done to facilitate Ali Jehangir Siddiqui in case he were to be selected for the privatization.[51] All nine companies were invited through tender to submit their bids in March 2018 including Jahangir Siddiqui & Co with the provision that the highest bidder would be the winner.[52] This goes to show that the process was transparent.

Although the bidding process was due to be completed in April 2018, the process was delayed[53] because of a corruption probe by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) initiated by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar,[54] after an alleged misappropriation was claimed in the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP)'s report.[55] Subsequent investigation by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the courts determined that there was no misappropriation or corruption. At the end, the only main claim remaining was that employees who were hired at competitive market salaries by QA Solar were higher than standard government salaries. The cases were dismissed.

Controversies and criticism[]

The 100 MWp pilot project was a tremendous success as it had been installed at a cost that was at least $20 million less than international prices, it had been completed and commissioned in a record 9 months, it was producing electricity at a higher than design capacity, it was generating a good profit for the government, and there were no cost over-runs in the construction cost. The opposition parties and other interested parties tried to discredit the project by distorting facts and making tall claims which were rejected by the courts of law. However, some portions of the media played along with such claims which eventually died down as nothing of substance could be unearthed. By the end of 2020, the plant had generated 952,961,500 kWh since its inception, and avoided 22,238,420.638 tons of CO2 and GHG emissions into the atmosphere.

Claim of Inefficient production at high cost[]

Some journalists, egged on by political opponents, claimed that Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Pvt Ltd produced too little and too expensive power and it was unable to achieve balanced operating expenses (OPEX). Unable to understand the solar technology, they claimed that the installed 100 MW capacity could produce only 18MW.[37] They failed to point out that the efficiency of solar power plants is measured in the same way all over the world and Pakistan was no exception. Solar energy is available only during daylight hours and typically will produce the maximum rated capacity only at the peak of the day. Thus, solar power produced is normally equivalent to no more than 4 to 6 hours of peak production in any 24 hour cycle. This is true everywhere in the world. Every technology has its limitations and efficiencies. This is also true of thermal, hydroelectric, and other technologies. The real issue that needs to be addressed is the cost of electricity per KWh, and whether that is viable. It has been demonstrated adequately that with the diminishing costs of solar power systems, this has become the most sought after technology worldwide.

The opposition media and critics expressed concern over the upfront capital expenses (CAPEX) of $131.15 million, claiming it to be very high. In 2013 when this project was awarded at a price of $1.31 million/MW, the cost of similar projects in USA was at $2.59 million/MW.[56] Similar utility grade projects cost an average of $2.2 million/MW in 2013 in India which has similar local cost structures.[57] It is estimated that the average price of such EPC contracts in other countries was between $1.6 to 1.8 million/MW that year. Thus, the 100MWp QASP was contracted at a much lower price than global prices.

Chief minister of Punjab Shahbaz Shareef pointed to some of these factors in his press conference which was reported extensively in the press.[58][59][60]

Journalist Farrukh Saleem repeated the same claims and wrote that solar energy generated in Pakistan had amongst the highest per unit costs without looking at the facts or audited accounts of the power plant. He tried to compare 2017 costs of solar power plants with the cost of 2014 where the solar landscape had changed completely. Likewise, his claim of comparing costs in India versus Pakistan were erroneous due to the anachronism. In actuality, the costs in India in 2014 were higher than the costs in Pakistan as borne out by global reports quoted earlier.

Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) Inquiry report[]

In March 2018 the Auditor General of Pakistan published a report of serious irregularities in the award of procurements and construction (EPC) contracts and operation and maintenance (O&M) contracts.[55] Subsequent inquiry and evaluation showed that the report had relied on an analysis that was erroneous and misleading.

  • The report pointed out that the contractor with the lowest bid, M/s Chint, was not awarded the contract; instead it was given to TBEA and claimed a loss to the national exchequer of $19.345 million. The fact is the opposite. Chint had quoted an EPC price of $150.9 million against a bid of $151.8 million by TBEA. However, Chint refused to provide the solar panels of the quality demanded by the tender specifications within this price and wanted a higher price if the specifications were met. Thus, TBEA which agreed to provide the high quality specified panels were declared the lowest qualified bidder and awarded the contract. It is further important to mention that the Government of Punjab in the greater interests of the country further negotiated the price with TBEA and saved an additional $20 million by signing the contract at $131.15 million with TBEA. Thus, the TBEA price ended being 13% lower than the Chint price which was also non-compliant technically.
  • It claimed that violations of procurements were found in 2017 against Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PEPRA) rules and that subcontracts were awarded to companies with dubious profiles in non-transparent ways. None of these claims could be verified as these were based on rumors floated by the opposition media.
  • Without any proof, it insinuated that Mr. Rashid Majeed was a member of the technical and financial bid committee that favored TBEA. It also claimed that later he managed to obtain EPC and O&M contracts triggering a conflict of interest which was false. Mr. Majeed was not involved in any of the EPC or O&M works nor was he a sub-contractor to the main EPC contractor. He was also not a member of Bank of Punjab, the lender of the Quaid-e-Azam solar park, as claimed. He had no financial interest in the bank. He worked as an employee of the German consultant that provided technical and engineering advice to Bank of Punjab.
  • It claimed misuse of vehicles, bonuses, and allowances in services and site reallocations among several department heads of the company and in the appointments of CEO, consultants, and excess payments and perks availed. After due deliberations of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), it was clear that such allegations were unfounded, and the salaries and perks given to the company employees including the CEO were in line with market driven compensation.
  • It claimed that excessive payments were made in markups, or that there was an irregularity in the letter of credit which was opened in favour of the TBEA parent company, retention of equity funds in BOP and violation of several other procedures and regulations. During investigations, it was realized that several of Pakistan and international banking laws, import and export laws and the legal framework were in conflict and became a hindrance in execution of the project which would have led to delays in execution by years. These needed to be ironed out and brought in consonance. Thus, without compromising the cost of the project or its timeline, the project managers were forced to bring the conflicting regulations in line. This is normal practice in execution of any international contract. The case was closed against such claims.

Environmental impact of the project[]

Quaid-e-Azam solar park is located in UNESCO declared biosphere reserve, Lal Suhanra National Park. Critics claimed that the project affected critical biodiversity at the park having wildlife like Chinkara (Indian Gazelle), Caracal Cat and Houbara Bustard, due to increased human activity in arid regions and construction of new network for commercial activities. The critics failed to point out that there is very little human activity at a solar plant. For example, the total operational staff at a solar plant that is spread over hundreds of acres is less than 10, and the cleaning staff would number another 20-30 persons. A complete environmental impact study (EIA) was done before the start of the project and it was found to be within the defined parameters. Claims to the contrary were simply politically driven.

They claimed that during construction of the project trees worth hundreds of thousands of rupees were disposed at cheap rates in the dark to open market without any auctioning.[61] The fact is that the land was a total desert with little vegetation except for shrubs. It also had several sand dunes. The claim of deforesting a desert is without any substance.

Another concern expressed was about fate of millions of PV panels since they have life of 25 years, hence leaving a dump of silicon in the desert. The environmentalists and experts reflected their surprise that why Balochistan having lot of barren land, high solar profile and low dust count was not selected as a potential site.[61] The critics failed to point out that disposal of solar panels is the same whether it be in urban areas of the world (where these are being installed extensively) or in desert areas like Cholistan. And why should Balochistan be considered a dumping ground for any of the other provinces of Pakistan? It seems that the critics are oblivious to the needs and issues of Balochistan. This was a provincial project and not funded by the federal government. No province is obliged to serve the needs of another province. If Balochistan wishes to install solar power plants that will benefit the province, it is free to do so. The province of Punjab does not have a say in that matter.

Probe of misappropriation/corruption[]

Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar took notice of the ongoing corruption inquires for the Quaid-e-Azam solar project, and demanded reports of its monthly production and expenditure information.[62][54] False reports were circulated that QASP had zero power generation in May 2018 and the Chief Justice was deceived to demand an explanation.[63] However, the case remained pending after the retirement of Saqib Nisar and no tangible results were produced. In June 2018, the National Accountability Bureau along with other power projects started an inquiry against Quaid-i-Azam Solar power project due to alleged irregularities and alleged corruption in the contracts;[64] it was also recommended to place its CEO Najam Shah on the Exit Control List (ECL).[65] In June 2018, ex-CEO Ahad Cheema was summoned to court on 56 company cases, to present his views on the Quaid-i-Azam Solar power project. However, he was unable to give satisfactory answers as he had never been directly involved with the construction, execution or management of the 100MWp solar plant.[66] None of these cases of misappropriation or corruption could be proved against QA Solar or its CEO as there was no substance to these charges. Due to his excellent performance at QA Solar Power and with the Government of Punjab, not only was Najam Shah's name removed from the ECL, but he was also elevated to the position of Secretary, Government of Sindh by the newly installed PTI government. He has served the Government of Sindh under PTI rule as Secretary Finance, Secretary Health, Secretary Information Science and Technology, Investment Department. He is currently Secretary Local Government, Housing and Town Planning Department in the government.[67]

See also[]

References[]

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  38. ^ a b c https://nepra.org.pk/tariff/Tariff/Upfront/TRF-UTS%20UPFRONT%20SOLAR%20DETERMINATION%2021-01-2014%20777-79.PDF
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