H.E. Moazzam Khan, Ambassador of Pakistan to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Net -Pak Business Facilitation Forum and Dinner / M.O.U signing between ALKA Power and Green Quest Solutions
By Roy Lie A Tjam.
Ned-Pak Business Facilitation Forum, which is part of Embassy of Pakistan, organised an event for the MOU signing ceremony between ALKA Power and Green Quest Solutions followed by a sumptuous dinner.
Both activities, the signing, and dinner took place in style at the Hilton Hotel The Hague on Monday 27 June 2016.The evening was graced by pianist Fears Khouri and soprano Ms Mireille Bittar. Master of Ceremony of the evening was Mr Luuk de Ruijter, Director Legal and R&D of Alka Power.
The program started with a reception in the foyer of the Hilton and was followed by a magnificent dinner. The welcome remarks were by GQS chairperson and founder Mr Bobby Wahi LLB, Green Quest Solutions, Mrs Raana Syed, Chairperson of Alka Power and H.E. Mr Moazzam Ahmad Khan Ambassador of Pakistan in the Netherlands.
Ambassador Khan stressed the Pakistan Government offers incentives for the implementation of renewable and sustainable energy. The Pakistani Mission in The Hague is open for business; it is ready to assist and facilitate entrepreneurs. The Ambassador particularly thanked the commercial attaché Mr Zahid Abbasi and the staff of the Pakistan Embassy for their unwavering contribution and support.
Ambassador Khan also welcomed the new Commercial Counsellor, Mr Hassan.
After the signing of the M.O.U. the time had arrived for the cutting of the cake. The dinner consisted of an impressive selection of authentic savoury dishes, called Mezze.
Mrs Raana Syed, chairperson of Alka Power, gave some background information on what Alka Power stands for. ‘This agreement will commit us to work together even more closely towards eliminating the hazards of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil or natural gas. I am positive that their zeal and commitment will continue, in a similar stride of our contributing partners. Therefore, Mr Bobby Wahi of our sister company Green Quest Solutions did the honours of elaborating on the MOU further.’
‘Alka Power’ she explained ‘is a specialist in effectively evaluating and implementing unique renewable energy opportunities in developing countries. The service comes with the financial capabilities and know-how to directly approach governments for either part or Fully financed Solar, Hydro and Wind allocations.’
‘The projects are socially focused, commercially feasible and offer sensible, sustainable solutions to answer the demands of today, with the foresight of the future, Alka Power focuses on utility-scale solar facilities, which are capable of generating large amounts of electricity; which in turn is transferred directly into the grid. Providing a fully comprehensive service for developing utility-scale solar generated projects.’ Mr Bobby Wahi, founder, and CEO of Green Quest Solutions (GQS) a renewable energy development company based in Spain and the UK.
‘We appreciate that some of you have flown great distances to be here and on behalf of the GQS team and our gracious hosts the Pakistan Embassy and our sister company in Netherlands Alka Power, your efforts are truly appreciated.’
‘Following COP 21, it has become clear that Governments have signalled an end to the fossil fuel era, committing for the first time to a universal agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change.
It is with this backdrop and with a sense of great pride that I am honoured here today to celebrate the historic signing of an MOU between GQS and Alka power. This union will allow for expansion into new regions under this is the umbrella, combining resources and finances.
Green Quest expansion plans are currently focused in the CIS region with a particular focus along the silk route. By way of an update, GQS currently has 350 MW of Solar PV in development in Kazakhstan spread over 3 locations, namely 100mw Syrdaryinsk, 200mw Aktobe and 50mw Zhanakorgan. The overall appetite for international investment into these projects has been overwhelming with GQS having already secured full funding for the preliminary 3 solar PV projects to the tune of 350,000,000 USD. With this in mind, I am pleased to welcome and extend my gratitude to all the investors and partners that have been able to make it here today.
GQS has also had the pleasure of signing an MOU with the government of Kyrgyzstan and a draft Proposal from Afghanistan.
With this extensively confirmed pipeline of projects now in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan, it was only natural that when we were given the opportunity to provide assistance for the improvement of the transmission lines in Pakistan formally known as the “casa 1,000 project” we jumped at the opportunity. We look forward to working with the government of Pakistan in this respect.
GQS has reached an understanding with an Asian investor who will provide financial support for 900 MW in the region which equates to an investment approximately 900,000,000 million dollars, specifically for our silk route pipelines.’
Mr Wahi acknowledged the efforts of Mrs Raana Syed, Chair Person of Alka Power, who has worked and been instrumental in assisting GQS in its expansion plans. Finally, he addressed special thanks to the commercial attaché Zahid Abbasi of the Embassy of Pakistan and his efforts in making the event such a success.
Them the Hilton salon full of diplomats, business people and Dutch functionaries welcome Mrs Syed for an again meaningful speech. She said: ‘We are quite confident that the people of Pakistan, together with other people in the South and East-Asia Region will benefit from this since Energy plays a vital role in the progress of the socio- economic sector in the development of a country.
With this agreement we want to contribute to two of the most important goals of our companies:
First: Our company’s objectives are, besides business, to provide opportunities to the people to grow and prosper so they can develop a strong Socio-economic fundament on which they can accelerate the wheel of the economy and improve their productivity in major economic sectors.
And Second: In this Era, large-scale production of energy by using fossil fuels (such as coal, oil or natural gas) is outdated, it is soon to be obsolete, and moreover: it has become far too expensive.
These two main goals happened to come together in Pakistan’s Energy Policy regarding doing business and the way we – Alka Power and Green Quest Solutions – have set up our business benefits from this policy beautifully.
This new way of doing business contains the following points:
- One-Window Policy;
- Upfront Tariff;
- Repatriation of the funds without having to pay Taxes over them;
- No investments from the Local Government
- No levy of sales tax on plant, machinery and equipment
- Exemption from income tax including turnover rates tax and withholding tax on imports.
Our proposition of the Upfront Tariff was immediately accepted by the Sindh Government and the Pakistan Government. This makes Pakistan the first in the world to set out this Energy Business Policy, and it also means that the Alka new Upfront Tariff Proposition Approach on the Energy Business will become the new standard.
Alka Power and Green Quest Solution have since the beginning held the idea that producing renewable energy is the only true alternative for both the environment and the people using this energy. investing in renewable energy is not only cost effective, it even opens the door to other new green and renewable investment possibilities that will in the end safeguard all people from health hazards; and we no longer stand alone in this view since the publication of the Bloomberg New Energy Outlook 2016, in which it was stated firmly that:
Wind and Solar production costs will drop.
These two technologies will become the cheapest way of producing electricity in many countries by 2020s and in most of the world by 2030s. Onshore wind-costs will have fallen by 41% and Solar Power (Photo-Voltaic to be precise) costs will have fallen by 60% in 2040.’
Photography Alka Power.
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Alka Power (www.alkapower.nl) is currently based in The Hague, Netherlands. It will open an office in De Meern (near Utrecht) shortly. Alka Power is a Dutch company with firm roots in Pakistan.
