US, Pakistan partner promote investment in clean-tech SMEs

F.P. Report

KARACHI: Chief Secretary Sindh Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajpot and representatives of USAID and US Embassy jointly inaugurated an Investment Roadshow geared towards raising climate investment in Pakistan for SMEs in solar and wind energy, giving on and off- grid energy solutions as well as innovative companies working on net neutrality goals of the country. The 2-day investment forum and expo took place at Avari Towers in Karachi and brought together key financial institutions and investors together.

The event was organized by USAID-funded Pakistan Private Sector Energy Project, that is implemented by by the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN) in partnership with UNIDO and REEEP. PFAN has globally raised $3bn in investment in climate finance to date.

Chief Secretary Sindh Dr Muhammad Suhail Rajpot delivered the keynote address and commented on Pakistan’s ripe investment readiness as well as the pressing need for sustainable infrastructure scale-up.

“I am glad to learn that Sindh was found to be a priority province by the Pakistan Private Sector Energy project as our province is rich in scaling up of wind, solar and waste to energy in our provincial and national energy strategy,” commented Dr. Rajput.

He further said that The Government of Sindh with the financial support of World Bank (US 100 Million Dollor) launched the Sindh Solar Energy project (SSEP), mainly focused to divert the conventional methods of energy production to the state of the art new and renewable technologies.

This program will finance GoS’s electrification program to help provide 200,000 Solar Home Systems to the people in the entire province not connected to the Grid and low access electricity areas. “Uptill now 26 Hospitals has been shifted on roof top solar. The system will be connected to the nearby grid under NEPRA’s net-metering policy.” He added

The US Consul General Karachi Liam O’Flanagan affirmed the United States’ support for clean energy projects his address and noted that building a robust pipeline of clean energy and circularity companies is integral in driving the clean energy transition forward.

Peter Storey, Global Coordinator at PFAN, expressed his excitement and hope that the investment forum will culminate in raising dollars for the eco-entrepreneurs.
The event featured pitches from companies such as ezBike, Ray Data Analytics and Ouroboros in electric mobility, clean tech and circularity, respectively. While the expo featured selected fourteen companies from the project pipeline.