LAHORE: Pakistan has unveiled its first Power Equipment Manufacturing Dashboard, a real-time digital tool designed to monitor localisation progress, assess vendor capacity, and identify strategic investment opportunities under the Power Sector Indigenisation Plan (PSIP).
The launch took place during the National Consultative Workshop on the Power Sector Indigenisation Roadmap, organised by the National Grid Company of Pakistan (NGC), formerly the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC), in collaboration with the LUMS Energy Institute.
Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari addressed the workshop via video link, commending the joint initiative. “NGC is the first national entity to implement an approved Indigenisation Policy, and its strategic procurement model is already delivering tangible results,” he said.
Leghari urged the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), power distribution companies (DISCOs), K-Electric, and state-owned and private power generation plants to adopt indigenisation as a strategic imperative, not as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) but as a core procurement principle aligned with the National Electricity Plan 2023-27.
He added that the government was finalising a plan to supply 7,000 megawatts of electricity to Pakistan’s export industry at the most competitive tariff in the region. “We are working on providing electricity at a marginal cost to boost exports,” Leghari said, stressing that power sector indigenisation was vital to shifting the country from an import-dependent to an export-led economy.
Dr Fiaz Ahmad Chaudhry, chairman of the NGC Board of Directors and senior adviser at the LUMS Energy Institute, jointly inaugurated the dashboard along with Pakistan Engineering Council Chairman Engr Waseem Nazir, NGC Managing Director Engr Muhammad Waseem Younas, K-Electric CEO Syed Moonis Abdullah Alvi, and other officials.
Dr 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 reaffirmed that LUMS would continue supporting policy design, digital innovation, and institutional transformation in the energy sector.
He noted that under the 10-year Integrated Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) and Transmission System Expansion Plan (TSEP), $8 billion in investment would be needed in the transmission sector. “We want this equipment and material to be manufactured in Pakistan, which will save valuable foreign exchange,” he said.
NGC Managing Director Engr Muhammad Waseem Younas outlined 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 industrial capacity. Additionally, NGC’s 2023 revision of its Type Test Policy to align with international benchmarks has opened opportunities for local manufacturers to compete globally.
The workshop gathered senior leadership from the power sector, manufacturing industry, regulatory bodies, policymakers, and academia to develop a national strategy for accelerating the localisation of Pakistan’s electric power equipment manufacturing ecosystem.
Discussions focused on bottlenecks in localisation across the generation, transmission, and distribution value chain, exploring enabling policies for the manufacturing sector. The workshop concluded with consensus on actionable steps to align procurement practices with national localisation goals, foster technology partnerships, and create a clear roadmap for import substitution.
Dr Tariq Jadoon, Provost of LUMS, reaffirmed the university’s commitment as a national platform for evidence-based policymaking, innovation, and industry transformation. Dr Naveed Arshad, Director of the LUMS Energy Institute and NGC Board member, added, “LEI is helping to reimagine energy localisation through interdisciplinary R&D.”
