Coal-based 1,320 MW power injected in country’s grid under CPEC
Zubair Qureshi
Islamabad
Pakistan’s Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) with joint efforts of Power Division and provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan has realized two mega power generation projects of around 2000 MW and that too in one month.
Federal Minister for Power Omar Ayub Khan while presiding the 125th meeting of the PPIB on Thursday appreciated the pace with which country’s power generation entities are working. He also welcomed the recent additions of 1320 MW imported coal based Power Project at Hub and 660 MW Thar coal based Engro Powergen under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The Minister reiterated that the present government was according top priority to the CPEC and committed to provide all possible facilities to the companies working on the project. Omar Ayub during the meeting remarked that since the electricity crisis is over, now Pakistan is concentrating on fuel mix which is dominated by its indigenous and natural resources.
“Our end dream is to ensure affordability in arranging future capacity additions for which hydro, local coal, solar and wind assets are particularly vital which are abundantly available across country and enough to provide round-the-clock power supply for a long time, the Minister added,” said Omar Ayub Khan.
In Thursday’s meeting, particular focus was on hydropower projects particularly the small hydro power projects and secondly the Thar coal mining and power generation projects being setup in the earlier neglected Tharparkar which is now emerging as energy capital of Pakistan.
In a bid to facilitate ongoing IPPs in achieving various milestones, the Board granted guidance and way forward leading to their smooth, quick and effective implementation.
The Board also agreed to allow extensions in Financial Closing Dates of Thar coal based 330 MW Power Project by Thar Energy Limited and 330 MW Siddiqsons Energy Limited both located at Thar Block-II without disturbing the completion dates of these projects which arefixed as March 2021 March 2022 respectively.
