15 May 2012

The Small Industries Development Board (SIDB) will launch biogas plants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan to provide both low-cost fuel and benefit economic, social and environmental sectors.

The biogas project will be funded by money from the Pakistan-Italian debt swap agreement of 2009, when Italy agreed to convert Pakistan’s $100 million (€77.8 million) debt into aid for development projects.

‘We really feel biogas technology can benefit the entire country,’ says SIDB spokesperson Noman Qasir. ‘Pakistan tried biogas production in the Seventies but it didn’t succeed due to the lack of state-of-the-art technology and public awareness.’

The project will see the SIDB work directly with the government for the first time in its history and it wants to set up at least 400 small- and medium-sized plants for domestic use throughout Peshawar, Abbottabad, Charsadda, Mansehra, Hripur and Nowshera districts.

The SIDB expect the cost per plant to be around PKR60,000 (€514).