Power project under CPEC runs aground

Matiari-Lahore line is to supply 4,000MW from Sindh to Punjab

ISLAMABAD/ AL QUDS: An electricity transmission project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is said to have become unviable reportedly owing to the government’s decision to give priority to power projects in Punjab.

The $2.1-billion, 878-kilometre-long Matiari-Lahore Transmission Line was planned to supply 4,000 megawatts of electricity produced from coal in Sindh to cities in Punjab. This scheme was among the priority projects that China and Pakistan wanted to complete by December 2018 in the first phase of the CPEC construction.





Officials of the ministries of water and power, and planning and development said that owing to delays in commissioning of power generation projects in southern parts, there would not be much load available to lift from Sindh, putting a question mark over the feasibility of the project.

They said the financial viability and dates to start construction work would remain elusive until the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) completed a fresh load flow study while bearing in mind the commissioning dates of power projects.

In April last year, the NTDC and State Grid Corporation of China had signed the project agreement. But the officials said the political leadership would now decide whether to retain this project as a priority project or not.

The Matiari-Lahore power line is the seventh CPEC project facing problems. The water and power ministry has already given warnings to the sponsors of five energy-sector projects located in south to either complete them by 2018 or face deletion from CPEC.



What went wrong?

The transmission line is to be the first 660kV High-Voltage Direct Current electricity transmission line in the Independent Power Producer (IPP) mode.

According to experts, Pakistan’s transmission system is based on alternate current (AC). The Direct Current mode is capital intensive, requires guaranteed load factor and can transmit electricity in one direction – in this case from South to North.



Initially, the officials said, the government planned to give high priority to coal-based power plants in Sindh and transmit electricity to Punjab. But now the government’s priority has shifted to three LNG-based, 3,600MW power plants that are being setup in Punjab and a 1,320MW coal-based plant in Sahiwal. In addition to this, more hydel-power plants are under construction in northern parts of the country.



Dispelling the impression of government’s changing priorities, Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal insisted that all project-related issues would be resolved soon.

“Viability of the project is one aspect but one also has to keep in mind the consequences of not having a transmission line when other power generation projects are ready,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2016.