ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: Federal Minister for Water and Power Liaqat Ali Jatoi has said Pakistan was offering three power projects with total capacity of 1300mw for international competitive bidding in the next few months.

The projects included 500mw Uch gas-fired project, 450mw gas-fired project at Faisalabad and 350mw gas-fired project in Lahore. The minister has stated this in a message received here on Monday from Dubai where he was speaking at the inaugural session of Pakistan first-ever Road Show for power sector in the country.

Due to good economic condition and rising industrial and agricultural growth rates, the country was projecting 5,500mw additional generation capacity with an investment of about $3 billion by 2010, he said.

All the investors would enjoy level playing field and there would be total transparency in the whole process, he assured. He said the power tariff rules were being clearly spelt out and multiplicity of agencies involved in tariff negotiations had been cut out.

The government, Mr. Jatoi said, was introducing the culture of competitive bidding and finalizing electricity purchase price on the basis of competition as it believed in the opening of market and deregulation. He made it clear that the market determined prices will not be opened.

Pakistan, he said, had further improved its policy to make it even more investors friendly and had reduced the processing time for investment proposals by 60 to 70 per cent. The procedures had been simplified, he said.

The one window role of Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) had been enhanced so that the investors did not have to run from pillar to post for getting various facilities, the minister said.

The composition of PPIB had been changed to include private sector, he added. Pakistan's security package for power sector was time tested and had proven to be adequate and robust.

At present, he said, there were 14 Independent Power Producers (IPPS) in Pakistan with about 6,000mw power generation capacity and they were working in healthy environment. The minister urged the participants of the show to invest in Pakistan because Pakistan of today was different from Pakistan of yesterday.

Mr Jatoi also briefed the participants about the economic situation, growth rates, foreign exchange reserves, investment packages and restructuring of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). He also paid tributes to the late President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Alnahayan who brought an economic revolution in the UAE.

Sheikh Nahayan Mubarak Al Nahayan, Minister for Education, UAE, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said Pakistan was his own country and he wanted it to be better than even UAE as it had much more potential.

More than 20 UAE, Europe-based power sector companies and a large number of investors from the UAE participated in the road show and expressed their desire that more such shows should be conducted.