Deals inked to import electricity from Iran

Iran will provide electricity at low rates of Rs7 per unit from next month.

ISLAMABAD: The upper house of the parliament was informed Thursday about the successful agreements of importing electricity from Iran on low rates.

Senators Lashker Raesani and Dr Ismail Baladi who were part of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) delegation which visited Iran to negotiate power imports on low tariff rates, informed the senate about the agreements.

Baladi told the senate that it was after three years that the agreement to import electricity for Makran Division was signed, saying that there was a dispute on tariff rates as Iran was offering electricity at Rs13 per unit, while Pakistan wanted it at Rs7.

“With our efforts, Iran has signed the agreement whereby it would provide electricity at as low rates as Rs7per unit,” Baladi told the Senate.

In the successful talks, initially Iran would provide 35.7 MW of electricity at Rs7 per unit to the Makran division from next month, Baladi said.

Raesani told the senate that an agreement, under which Iran would provide 100 MW electricity to Gwader port in six months on the same rates, was also signed on the occasion.

He said that another agreement of 1,000 MW electricity import could be materialized within the next year and a half, if the Water and Power Ministry successfully negotiated with the government.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2011.