Indigenisation policy yielding results: Leghari
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The National Grid Company of Pakistan (NGC), formerly the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC), in collaboration with the LUMS Energy Institute, convened the National Consultative Workshop on the Power Sector Indigenisation Roadmap at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).
The high-profile event brought together senior leadership from the power sector, manufacturing industry, regulatory bodies, policymakers and academia to chart a cohesive national strategy for accelerating the localisation of Pakistan's electric power equipment manufacturing ecosystem.
Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari addressed the workshop through video link and commended the joint initiative, stating, "NGC is the first national entity to implement an approved indigenisation policy and its strategic procurement model is already delivering tangible results."
He urged the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), distribution companies (DISCOs), K-Electric and state-owned and private power generation plants to adopt indigenisation as a strategic imperative and not as a corporate social responsibility, but as a core procurement principle aligned with the National Electricity Plan 2023-27.
The minister noted that the independent system and market operator had been made fully functional and the Energy Infrastructure Development and Management Company would also be made functional soon.
A key milestone of the workshop was the launch of Pakistan's first Power Equipment Manufacturing Dashboard, developed by the LUMS Energy Institute with input from power sector stakeholders. This real-time digital tool will monitor localisation progress, assess vendor capacity and identify strategic investment opportunities under the power sector indigenisation plan.
About the dashboard, the federal minister said that its launch was a welcome step and it would help in power sector indigenisation.
NGC Board of Directors Chairman and LUMS Energy Institute's Senior Adviser Dr Fiaz Ahmad Chaudhry stated, "NGC's indigenisation strategy – anchored in policy reform and targeted educational orders – has already saved over $10 million in foreign exchange through import substitution."
He added, "Pakistan's market for static transmission and sub-stations is currently valued at around $8 million. This figure, however, does not reflect the true scale of our potential. We must work to expand this market at least threefold through strategic development, innovation and local industrial growth."
At the same time, he said, "we should set a clear target of achieving no less than $16 million in exports from this sector. That is the level of ambition we must embrace to position ourselves competitively on the global stage."
He said that under the 10-year Integrated Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) and the Transmission Exposition Plan, an investment of $8 billion would be needed in the transmission sector. NGC Managing Director Engineer Muhammad Waseem Younas outlined the tangible progress under the indigenisation policy. Since 2022, NGC has placed over Rs2 billion in local orders, including Rs781 million in educational orders aimed at building the industrial capacity.
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