Pakistan Advances PKR 24.9 Billion 100MW Solar Project

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 2, Pakistan's Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal, called for accelerated implementation of the 100MW distributed solar project at a meeting of the Gilgit-Baltistan Development Board. The project has been included in Pakistan's Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), with a total investment of approximately PKR 24.9 billion, covering rooftop solar, centralized solar facilities, as well as supporting transmission lines and access roads.

Under the current project scope, the project consists of an 18MW rooftop solar component and an 82MW centralized solar component. The 18MW rooftop solar portion is planned to be installed on 499 government buildings in Gilgit-Baltistan, equipped with battery energy storage systems; facilities in Gilgit and Diamer are scheduled for completion by December 2026, while the solarization of government buildings in the Baltistan region is scheduled for completion by October 2026. The PC-I document for the 82MW centralized solar project has been submitted to Pakistan's Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approval.

Supporting works for the project will proceed in parallel. The September 2 meeting clarified that, among the transmission facilities and access roads supporting the solar project, the portions falling under the purview of the Gilgit-Baltistan government will be implemented by local authorities; the solar works undertaken by the federal government and the transmission and road works undertaken by local governments shall not proceed sequentially but must be executed concurrently. The meeting also called for accelerated efforts on related land, communications, and infrastructure support.

The project had previously entered the procurement and implementation preparation stage. In June 2026, the Pakistani government confirmed that the cost of the 100MW project would be borne by the federal government and required third-party verification at all project stages; in July, it further required full transparency throughout the procurement process, with all project payments to be made only after third-party verification is completed. The Pakistani government also clarified at that time that the 82MW centralized solar project was undergoing the ECNEC approval process.

The project first entered the federal-level special advancement process in December 2024, when the planning department required the 100MW solar project to be incorporated into PC-I with a detailed implementation timeline; in August 2025, the Prime Minister of Pakistan required the project to be completed within one year, and in December again demanded immediate implementation. By September 2026, the project had formed an engineering structure comprising 18MW rooftop solar on government buildings + 82MW centralized solar + transmission lines + access roads, and had entered the stage of itemized approval, procurement, and concurrent implementation.