Jaguar Overseas Takes a Resolve to Support Afghanistan’s Solar Energy Sector

Jaguar Overseas, a New Delhi-headquartered, ISO-certified Global Project Engineering-Procurement-Construction Company, stressed on the immense potential of Afghanistan’s energy sector and sought support from the country’s local bodies so as to ensure that the company is able to contribute effectively to the economic development of the region at the recently concluded second annual event, ‘Passage to Prosperity: India-Afghanistan International Trade and Investment Show’.

The event, held at the JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar hotel between September 12-15, 2018, was hosted by government officials from India and Afghanistan in association with United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the leading U.S. Government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential.

The event mainly aimed to advance trade integration by establishing economic and trade ties between Afghanistan and the international markets through business-to-business matching and consumer sales.

Committed to strengthening the India-Afghanistan relationship, Deepak Mathur, Chief Executive Officer, Jaguar Overseas Limited (JOL) engaged in a high-value panel discussion titled ‘Power-up Afghanistan – Lessons learnt in Afghan Energy sector’. During the discussion, he spoke eloquently on the importance of strengthening Afghanistan’s power sector. He also highlighted on the strategic importance of Afghanistan region for neighbouring countries including India apart from listing out key requirements such as the need to institutionalize flexible policies, government support and involve local partners to ensure all projects get completed seamlessly and JOL is able to contribute effectively to the overall process of rebuilding Afghanistan.

JOL has been closely associated with the development of Afghanistan’s energy sector for the last 10 years. The company was closely associated with the complete power evacuation process done via India Afghan friendships dam projects.

The recent Kandahar Solar Power project undertaken by JOL is in a very advanced stage. Recognizing the urgency to provide a solution to the problem of power shortage in Afghanistan, Jaguar Overseas played an integral role in the construction of a 10MW Afghanistan solar power project in Kandahar and resolved to strengthen Afghanistan’s power sector by developing country’s first tariff based solar power plant. The project is being executed with the support of USAID. The objective of the project is to ensure that Afghanistan becomes self-sufficient where their energy and power sector is concerned. JOL is getting continuous encouraging support from the government of Afghanistan DABS and local authorities.

During the panel discussion, Mr. Deepak Mathur, Chief Executive officer of Jaguar Overseas said, “Over the last 10 years, we have been closely associated with the development of the energy sector in Afghanistan and have been a part of India-Afghan Friendship Dam project (AIFD). Afghanistan is a land of opportunities. It is not only a strategically important location, it also houses a huge market with untapped potential particularly in the energy sector. It has about 344 GW potential where 222 GW is solar and 67 GW is wind power. The country has enough hydropower also available to it, to be able to develop it further for safe use. To harness this power, the kind of support and flexibility that the government of Afghanistan has shown, has been tremendous and we strongly encourage investors to focus attention here.”

Exhibitors at the event reported that the quality of investments and sales this year was outstanding. This reinforces that ‘Passage to Prosperity’ is the only trade and investment event that connects an international community of buyers, sellers, and investors to ‘do business first’ with Afghan businesses before they are discovered on the world stage. Now into its second year, the show continues to grow and expand with approximately 200 businesses and industry leaders, including women entrepreneurs from Afghanistan, showcasing their top-quality products, services, and business opportunities in luxury goods, agriculture, energy, health and education, mining and heavy industry, among other sectors. Some of the significant highlights from the 2018 ‘Passage to Prosperity’ event include partnership announcements by Dr. Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi, Acting Minister of Finance, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan; and the brand launch for an entertainment show called ‘Afghan Treasures’ that showcased the best of Afghanistan’s Silk Road heritage.