ISLAMABAD, Aug 29: Federal Minister for Water and Power, Liaquat Ali Jatoi has asked the new Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to complete their projects in time so that the government could meet the growing demand of power in the country.

The minister assured the IPPs that the government would extend all possible assistance and said that all bottlenecks would be removed to facilitate them to make more investment in the power sector.

Mr Jatoi made these observations while chairing a high level meeting of the new IPPs to review the progress of their projects here on Monday.

He said that the government had simplified the procedural requirements for new and existing investors in the power sector and exempted them from various taxes and duties.

The minister directed the ministry of petroleum, chairmen Wapda, Nepra, OGRA and MD PPIB to finalise the matters relating to future IPPs on priority.

The IPPs briefed the meeting regarding current status of their projects, assured timely completion of the projects and stated that the remaining procedural requirements would be finalised shortly.

They also suggested various measures to improve investment. It was apprised that the projects of more than 900 MW are in the pipeline and major formalities have been completed. It was also informed that the Attock Refinery would set up a power project of 125MW, Orient 25MW, Star 140MW, Sapphire Electric 225MW and Saif Group 225MW.